The Philippines yesterday said that it has shelved planned improvements on a military airstrip in the disputed South China Sea to support its bid for a UN ruling against Beijing over the tense territorial confrontation.
The Philippines infuriated China in March by asking a UN tribunal to declare Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea a violation of international law.
China claims almost all of the sea, a vital avenue for world trade that is also believed to harbor vast oil and gas reserves.
However, its claims overlap in parts with those of Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III’s spokeswoman Abigail Valte said that the government had suspended long-planned upgrades on a military runway in the disputed Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) to boost chances of a favorable ruling at the UN.
“We wanted to maintain the moral high ground in light of the case we filed at the [UN] arbitration tribunal regarding the West Philippine Sea,” Valte said, using the Filipino name for the area.
“We chose... to ease tensions and avoid any incident that may be construed as ramping up tensions or trying to provoke any of the claimant countries,” Valte said yesterday over Philippine government radio.
The small runway lies on Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島), the largest of several islands and reefs in the Spratly group that are garrisoned by Filipino soldiers, but also claimed by Taiwan and China.
China has refused to take part in UN arbitration with the Philippines and told Manila that bilateral ties would suffer.
Valte dismissed suggestions that suspending the airstrip project would allow China to ramp up its increasingly assertive efforts to stake its claims in the South China Sea.
“In our view, it will not weaken our position,” she added.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS