Marcos defies China, asserts sovereignty over contested reef

CHINA IS demanding the Philippines remove a scuttled naval vessel being used as an occupied base from the disputed Ayungin Shoal or Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, but President Ferdinand Marcos stood firm that the country will continue to assert its sovereignty over the territory.

Xi meets Russian Federation Council speaker

BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping met recently with visiting Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko in Beijing.

Xi encourages friendly personage to push for stronger China-Europe ties

BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping has lately replied to a letter from a Belgian friendly personage, encouraging him to push for stronger China-Belgium and China-Europe friendships.

Compromise in South China Sea working, says Marcos

PHILIPPINE President Ferdinand Marcos said there is notable progress in the fishing talks between Manila and Beijing China because of continued discussion between the two countries.

U.S., China congratulate Marcos

THE UNITED States and China have congratulated former senator Bongbong Marcos for winning the presidency.

Chinese can fish along with Filipinos in ‘Panatag Shoal’

CEBU CITY – Joint fishing activities between Filipino and Chinese fishermen are allowed within the 12 nautical mile territorial sea around the Scarborough Shoal in the West Philippine Sea even without agreement between the two countries, President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque said.

China’s Disinformation Campaign in the Philippines

IN U.S.-China relations, “coordinated inauthentic behavior” is no longer just a polite description for bilateral summits, but the latest tactic in the on-going competition for power and influence in the Indo-Pacific.

Russian Covid vaccine coming

PRESIDENT RODRIGO Duterte lauded Russia's efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine and is willing to participate in trials, as he welcomed a supply offer from Moscow that he expects will be free of charge.

China strengthens relations with Duterte

CHINESE PRESIDENT Xi Jinping said he is willing to work with Filipino leader Rodrigo Duterte to continuously lift their countries' relationship of comprehensive strategic cooperation to new levels.

China continues to help Philippines fight Covid-19

A TEAM of Chinese medical experts sent by Beijing to help the Philippines fight the spread of the novel coronavirus, or Covid-19, are racing against time to render all necessary assistance to stop the deadly respiratory disease from further infecting the country of 108 million population.

Philippines pursues high-quality, good-impact projects with cooperation from China

AFTER PRESIDENT DUTERTE'S highly successful visit to China, Manila is ready to pursue more high-quality and good-impact projects with cooperation from Beijing, said Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo.

 

He said Duterte had productive and fruitful bilateral meetings with top Chinese leadership where he affirmed the commitment to friendship and understanding with China. Duterte also expressed to Chinese leaders the country's readiness to pursue more high-quality and good-impact projects with China, Panelo said.

 

Duterte visited China from April 24 to 27, during which he attended the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation together with many other countries' leaders. Panelo said during the leaders' roundtable meeting, Duterte stressed the value of nations, especially in Asia, working together with a shared goal of inclusive, equitable and sustainable growth and prosperity.

 

As China is the largest trading partner and a major source of foreign investments of the Philippines, economic cooperation also highlights Duterte's visit. Panelo said Duterte witnessed the signing of multiple business agreements in Beijing between the two countries, covering a wide range of areas of investments, such as energy, infrastructure, agriculture and human resources.

 

"President Duterte gave his assurance to prospective foreign investors of all nationalities that the Philippine government will create an enabling environment that allows their business establishments and investments to prosper," Panelo said. Moreover, Panelo said while in Beijing President Duterte reiterated his resolve to endeavor to make the South China Sea a sea of peace, stability and prosperity. (Xinhua)

 

 

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Gov’t designed Kaliwa loan to favor China, says IBON

THE KALIWA DAM loan agreement is designed to unduly favor Chinese interests over that of the Philippines. IBON Foundation raised this concern in the wake of the release, upon public pressure, of this and other loan agreements.

 

Metro Manila private water concessionaire Manila Water Company, Inc. and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage Systems (MWSS) have long insisted on building the Kaliwa Dam and on a Chinese loan for this. The Department of Finance (DOF) seized on the recent disruption of water services, which IBON estimates to have affected at least 6.1 million Filipinos or 80% of the total 7.1 million population covered by the Manila Water service area, to further justify the project and the loan.

 

IBON executive director Sonny Africa however warned that the Kaliwa loan agreement signed last year during the visit of Chinese president Xi Jinping is unduly biased for China and against the Philippines. “Countries give official development aid (ODA) not out of charity but always to advance their foreign policy and self-interest,” Africa said. “The Chinese loans negotiated by the Duterte administration are suspiciously disadvantageous for the Philippines.”

 

IBON said that the practice of tied aid where loans are spent on the creditor country’s goods and services is unfortunately the norm in bilateral ODA. In the Kaliwa loan deal, for instance, the proceeds will pay for Chinese contractors and controversially even Chinese workers. China has a record of charging relatively high interest rates and for instance charges the highest nominal interest rates among all of the Philippines’ bilateral donors.

 

The group however pointed out that the Kaliwa loan deal goes far beyond these and creates conditions for a debt trap. This starts with the agreement’s Article 7 which makes it too easy for China to declare that the loan is in default and to subsequently declare “all the principal of and accrued interest… immediately due and payable”.

 

The loan for instance can apparently consider the Philippines in default if payment is more than thirty (30) days overdue, if the Philippines defaults even on other loans not in any way connected to the Kaliwa loan or project, or if “in the opinion of the Lender [there is] a material deterioration of the financial conditions of the Borrower”.

 

There are no such provisions in the other Japan and Korean loans that the DOF recently released. Moreover, IBON said, the loan is explicitly governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of China (Article 8.4) and any disputes will be settled in the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (Article 8.5).

 

The arbitration rules of the HKIAC are however biased for China such as in the choice of arbiters and especially if Chinese law is made the agreement’s governing law. IBON said the country is being set up to potentially give up natural and strategic resources. In the agreement’s Article 8.1, the country “waives any immunity on the grounds of sovereignty or otherwise for itself or its property in connection with any arbitration proceeding” on assets within the territory of the Philippines unless prohibited by law.

 

IBON stressed that this provision is dangerous especially given the current administration’s predisposition to wield the law haphazardly for narrow ends. “China rationally seeks to advance its self-interest as much as possible,” Africa said, “but it is suspicious that the Philippine government is giving so much to China and so badly failing to protect the country’s interest.”

 

He also pointed out: “China is not just any lender and is aggressive in asserting its global agenda even at the expense of human rights, environmental protection, and feeding corruption in debtor governments.”

 

The Kaliwa Dam project does not even yet have an updated feasibility study, environmental clearance, or the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of the communities.

 

IBON pointed out that the Duterte administration is seeking as much as US$14.4 billion for 23 infrastructure projects under its Build, Build, Build program. “China has already been implicated in a few controversial debts gone bad where governments were pressured to give up control over strategic assets like ports,” Africa said. “As it is, China’s actions in the mineral- and marine- rich West Philippine Sea islands and destruction of the rich marine biodiversity with reclamation activities shows that it is unconcerned about Philippine sovereignty and our interests.”

 

Africa said: “The Duterte administration made a big show of supposedly independent foreign policy at the start of its term — it can start now by taking bold measures to modify or terminate these disadvantageous agreements.” (IBON Foundation)

 

 

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