The Philippines has proposed an information-sharing system for Southeast Asia to help protect its waters from security challenges such as piracy, illegal fishing and drug trafficking.
The proposal was tabled on Wednesday at the start of a three-day ASEAN maritime forum attended by deputy foreign ministers and senior foreign ministry officials in Manila.
The objective is to “provide timely, relevant and material information to appropriate action agencies to enable them to combat non-traditional security threats at sea,” the proposal said.
These threats include drug trafficking, gun smuggling, human trafficking, illegal fishing and weather disturbances, according to the proposal a diplomat gave to reporters.
The Philippines said more than half of the world’s annual merchant tonnage passed through Southeast Asia’s waters, making cooperation vital.
No details were given as to how the information would be shared.
The proposal did not mention territorial disputes involving some ASEAN countries that experts say threaten regional stability.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
China is embroiled in territorial disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam and some other Southeast Asian nations over the South China Sea.
China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, which is believed to hold vast amounts of oil and gas, is a rich fishing ground and is home to shipping lanes vital to global trade.
Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei also have claims to parts of the sea.
A senior diplomat who was at the talks on Wednesday said the discussions had not touched on the disputes.
He said Indonesia also tabled a similar information-sharing proposal.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number