PH ally Japan 'expects' China to follow arbitration ruling

Philippine ally Japan said it "strongly expects" China to comply with an arbitration ruling that rejected Beijing's claims to economic rights in disputed areas in the South China Sea.

"Japan strongly expects that the parties’ compliance with this award will eventually lead to the peaceful settlement of disputes in the South China Sea," Japan Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said in a statement Tuesday.

Japan also reiterated its stand on the "importance of the rule of law," as it recognized the decision of the arbitral tribunal at The Hague as "final and legally binding."

"Japan has consistently advocated the importance of the rule of law and the use of peaceful means, not the use of force or coercion, in seeking settlement of maritime disputes," Kishida added.

The arbitral tribunal on Tuesday unanimously rejected China's claims to economic rights across large swathes of the West Philippine Sea. The ruling does not, however, "answer any question of sovereignty over land territory and does not delimit any boundary between the Parties."

"There was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the 'nine-dash line'," the court said, referring to a demarcation line on a 1947 map of the sea, which is rich in energy, mineral and fishing resources.

In the ruling, judges also found that Chinese law enforcement patrols risked colliding with Philippine fishing vessels and caused irreparable damage to coral reefs.

In 2013, the Philippines filed a case against China, saying Beijing was in violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to which both countries are signatories.

One of the key issues was whether the land features in the area are islands capable of supporting human habitation -- which under UNCLOS are entitled to territorial waters and an exclusive economic zone -- or rocks, which only have territorial waters, or low-tide elevations, which get neither.

In May 2016, Japan lodged a maritime defense agreement project with the Philippines, with the lease of training aircraft.


In April, a Japanese warship also sailed into a Philippine port near disputed South China Sea waters, in another sign of deepening security ties between the World War II foes to counter Beijing. -- With reports from Reuters, Agence France-Presse

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Xi endures lonely red-carpet APEC welcome in PH

Philippine President Benigno Aquino promised to be the "perfect host" to all leaders attending a regional summit, but a long and lonely red carpet welcome walk for China's Xi Jinping on Wednesday betrayed their nations' icy ties.

Aquino led the heads of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group along a red carpet laid throughout the summit venue in Manila to a stage where they gathered for an opening ceremony.

Xi and Chile's Michelle Bachelet were in the front row alongside Aquino.

But Aquino conversed only with Bachelet, laughing and chatting amiably, leaving Xi to plod sombrely alone through the sprawling convention centre with nobody to talk with.

The awkward walk, which lasted four minutes and seven seconds, ended when Xi entered the hall for the opening ceremony and an unidentified official approached him.

China and the Philippines are locked in a bitter diplomatic row over rival claims to parts of the South China Sea.

The Philippines had feared Xi may snub the summit because of the dispute.



When asked why Aquino had not moved to talk with Xi and whether it could be interpreted as a snub, Philippine presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma declined to respond directly.

"It was a long walk, your question might be speculative," Coloma said.

But Coloma said the two leaders had before the walk held a "warm and cordial" conversation for two minutes, although this was not captured on video.

When world leaders meet at any event, body language and personal interactions are often closely watched as a means of gauging a bigger picture on diplomatic relations.

When Xi was APEC host last year, a handshake with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe highlighted the longstanding and deep-seated tensions between their two nations.

Xi did not smile or speak, turning away from Abe to face the cameras even before the translator had finished speaking, and looked distinctly unimpressed.

Netizens quickly compared the pair to Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore -- Abe taking the role of the miserable, downtrodden donkey of the AA Milne novels.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

ASEAN fires warning shot across China's bows

NAYPYIDAW - Southeast Asian leaders have expressed "serious concern" over worsening territorial disputes in the South China Sea, presenting a rare united front against an increasingly assertive Beijing.

Vietnam and the Philippines led a successful push for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to deliver a thinly veiled rebuke to China over the standoff in waters home to key shipping lanes and thought to contain huge energy reserves.

But a defiant Beijing said Hanoi's efforts to enlist the support of its neighbors in the row were "doomed to fail."

The 10-nation ASEAN, in a statement released on Monday after a summit on Sunday, called for a peaceful resolution to the maritime rows, which flared up this month after China moved an oil drilling rig into waters also claimed by Hanoi.

"We expressed serious concerns over the ongoing developments in the South China Sea," said the joint statement from the summit in Myanmar, without explicitly pointing the finger at Beijing.

ASEAN called on all parties involved to "exercise self-restraint, not to resort to threat(s) or use of force, and to resolve disputes by peaceful means in accordance with the universally recognised principles of international law."

Observers said the statement marked a change of tone by the regional bloc, many of whose members -- including Myanmar -- have close economic and political ties with China and have traditionally avoided confrontation with the Asian heavyweight.

In 2012 China's ally Cambodia caused consternation when it was ASEAN head by refusing to take Beijing to task over its assertive maritime stance.

"This is a far cry from when Cambodia was ASEAN chair," said Southeast Asia expert Carl Thayer, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

The statement "represents a slight tightening of ASEAN's position", he said, adding it suggests a rare level of "consensus" on the vexed sea rights issue.

Under Brunei's chairmanship last year, China avoided a public rebuke from ASEAN at a major summit after offering an olive branch by calling for peace in the flashpoint region.

Beijing struck a less conciliatory tone on Monday, insisting that the contested Paracel Islands, located near the controversial oil rig, were its "inherent territory".

"The facts show that Vietnam's efforts to rope others into pressuring China are doomed to fail," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing.

"We hope that the Vietnamese side will see the situation clearly, calmly face the facts and stop its disruptions of Chinese operations," she said.

BALANCING ACT

Prominent Vietnamese political commentator Nguyen Quang A described the ASEAN declaration as a "big positive" for his country.

Vietnam lobbied energetically at the latest meeting in Myanmar for a strong statement on the maritime issue from its neighbors.

Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung slammed Beijing's oil rig move as "extremely dangerous" and accused Chinese vessels of ramming Vietnamese ships in the disputed waters.

"This is the first time China brazenly brings and installs its drilling rig deep into the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone of an ASEAN country, which gravely violates the international law," he said, according to an official transcript of his speech.

The spat triggered large anti-China protests in Vietnam at the weekend that appeared to have the tacit blessing of the authoritarian communist regime in Hanoi, which usually limits expression of public discontent.

The demonstrations received unprecedented coverage in Vietnam's tightly controlled state media on Monday.

Analyst Quang A said more rallies were likely unless Beijing removes the drilling rig.

"Our fate is that we are situated here, with a big neighbour who always wants expansion," he said.

China and Vietnam fought a brief border war in 1979 and the pair frequently trade diplomatic barbs over oil exploration, fishing rights and the contested Spratly and Paracel Islands.

China asserts ownership over almost all of the South China Sea, which is also claimed in part by ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia as well as Taiwan.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino told reporters that "many leaders" at the summit had voiced concern about the South China Sea spats, which he said were a "cause for worry and concern by all parties".

Philippine prosecutors said Monday they would charge nine Chinese fishermen arrested in separate disputed waters with environmental crimes, despite Beijing's warning of a dire effect on relations.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com