
Read it at Antiwar.com or here with graphics. FYI, the “Ant” in Antonis is pronounced as 🐜.

Read it at Antiwar.com or here with graphics. FYI, the “Ant” in Antonis is pronounced as 🐜.
MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Friday signed laws declaring the maritime zones under Philippine jurisdiction and designating sea lanes in the country for foreign vessels and aircraft.
Marcos inks laws on PH Maritime Zones, Archipelagic Sea Lanes
Related:
South China Sea: Philippines’ legal moves reveal its expansionist goals
U.S. State Department On the Philippines Maritime Zones Act
Arnaud Bertrand’s Twitter thread (ThreadReader)
Regarding the South China Sea Arbitration:
The South China Sea Arbitration did not rule on sovereignty, and China does not recognize it because the Arbitral Tribunal lacked jurisdiction. “The Arbitral Tribunal violated the principle of state consent, exercised its jurisdiction ultra vires and rendered an award in disregard of the law. This is a grave violation of UNCLOS and general international law, Wang said.” The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is an international treaty that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. The Permanent Court of Arbitration is not an agency of the United Nations. The PCA rents space in the same building as the UN’s International Court of Justice. A Congressional Research Service report, dated August 2023, stated that the U.S. has not declared its position regarding sovereignty over any of the geographical elements that comprise the South China Sea.
Japan’s Ground-Based Air Defense Options to the Philippines
Bilateral defense relations between Japan and the Philippines come at an all-time high, signifying the continuous cooperation between both maritime nations that share a common adversary and similar situation regarding territorial domains and integrity in the Indo-Pacific region.
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With the success of the export of the aforementioned radar systems to the Philippines from Japan, the latter is now raising up an idea of the likelihood of selling its surface-to-air missile batteries for the Philippine military to consider, with a wide variety of variants coming from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force that might find its way for the likes of the Philippine Air Force. This is especially in line with the recently passed New Government Procurement Act or NGPA (Republic Act 12009), allowing the purchase of second-hand military hardware, provided it is economically preferable to the government.
Territorial wrangling over who owns the South China Sea has strangled local marine life, say scientists, urging China and the Philippines to set aside political differences and work to save the fish, coral and plants that live border-free.
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Since 2013, China has built artificial islands that cover more than 3,000 acres of the Spratlys, according to U.S.-based policy organisation Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.
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A study last December by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative also blamed China’s dredging and clam harvesting for destroying almost 20,000 acres of reefs in the South China Sea.
Less politics more marine diplomacy – a fix for South China Sea?
The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) is part of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Gregory Poling is director of the AMTI. The same Poling that told the U.S. government-funded Voice of America that “Vietnam’s use of cutter suction dredgers is much more environmentally destructive than its previous dredging methods.”
According to the CIA’s World Factbook, Vietnam occupies around 50 outposts, The Philippines occupies nine, Malaysia occupies five, and China occupies seven in the disputed Spratly Islands.
Previously:
Experts warn of Philippines scheming for ‘new arbitration’ on South China Sea + More
Vietnamese Poachers using Cyanide and Dynamite Fishing in the Philippines’ EEZ
Philippine Coast Guard clarifies ‘assertive transparency’ tact
Part One: Americans Prospecting GenSan as EDCA Site
In a flash, May Kay Carlson proved she is part of the problem President Bongbong Marcos Jr. has created with China rather than any solution.
Related:
US envoy says China’s maritime claims a ‘cartoon’
Read More »MANILA (Reuters) – The United States has no immediate plans to withdraw a mid-range missile system deployed in the Philippines, despite Chinese demands, and is testing the feasibility of its use in a regional conflict, sources with knowledge of the matter said.
US Keeps Missile System in Philippines as China Tensions Rise, Tests Wartime Deployment
Previously:
Philippines aims to acquire Typhon missile launcher as regional arms race intensifies
China is against the deployment of the Typhon in the Philippines, which has been used in joint military exercises involving US troops
Philippines aims to acquire Typhon missile launcher as regional arms race intensifies
Related:
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian’s Regular Press Conference on August 30, 2024:
Bloomberg: The Philippines’ top military official said that the deployment of the US missile system in the country was mainly for training. China has been in the past said that the weapon system could be destabilizing. Does the Foreign Ministry have any comments on the recent comments by the Philippines’ military chief?
Lin Jian: On the US deployment of Mid-Range Capability missile system in the Philippines, China has made clear our opposition more than once. This move by the US and the Philippines incites geopolitical confrontation, escalates tensions in the region, and harms regional peace and stability. It has aroused high vigilance and concerns of countries in the region. The Philippines needs to have a clear understanding of the real intention of the US, respond to the common concerns of regional countries, avoid acting as the cat’s paw for the US at the expense of its own security interest, and quickly pull out the missile system as publicly pledged.
The incident, the first time in decades that Beijing and Manila have clashed over the Sabina Shoal, may derail efforts to lower tensions in the South China Sea.
Chinese and Philippine ships collide at Sabina Shoal, a new flash point (archived)
Related:
CCG restricts repeated Philippine vessel intrusions near South China Sea reefs
Chen Xiangmiao, director of the World Navy Research Center at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the Global Times on Monday that the Philippines sees Xianbin Jiao as a transfer station for its resupply missions to Ren’ai Jiao, as Xianbin Jiao is located between Ren’ai Jiao and the Philippines’ Palawan Province.
Philippine media have hyped the China Coast Guard’s (CCG) presence in the Xianbin Jiao, but it is the Philippines that has sent the MRRV-9701 to the area in the first place. The Philippine ship anchored in the lagoon of the Xianbin Jiao in April, with a CCG ship arriving later in July.
Updated on 07-27-2024: SeaLight, formerly Project Myoushu
Powell’s storytelling:
Read More »China reveals Philippine Personnel secretly resupplying BRP Sierra Madre by posing as Fishermen
Personally, I think that these “Secret” Operations are being done by the Naval Special Operations Command (NAVSOCOM) of the Philippine Navy (PN) as this seems to fall under their Area of Responsibility.
Remember that the NAVSOCOM Troops were also the ones that were involved in an Altercation with the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) earlier this Month.
PH NAVSOCOM trains with the U.S. Navy SEALs:
As the United States steps up its campaign to provoke China into war, the Philippines has lined up behind Washington, increasingly transforming the country into a lead attack dog in the region for American imperialism. Seeking to obscure the fact that the country has now been placed on the front lines of a catastrophic conflict, the Philippine ruling elite is demonizing China and people of Chinese ethnicity with absurd and lurid claims that Beijing is infiltrating spies into the country.
Philippine ruling elite whips up anti-China campaign to justify alignment with US war plans
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