The Philippines and New Zealand have begun negotiating an agreement that would allow them to deploy troops on each other’s soil, the two countries said yesterday, as concerns over maritime tensions with China grow.
Manila has been seeking to boost defense ties in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond in the face of China’s growing confidence in asserting its claims over the hot spot South China Sea.
A first round of talks was held in Manila on Thursday last week between the Philippines and New Zealand’s defense departments, they said in a joint statement.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“The first round of negotiations marked an important step in strengthening bilateral defense ties between the Philippines and New Zealand,” it said.
The Status of Visiting Forces Agreement would provide the legal framework for the countries “to elevate their cooperative activities and conduct exercises in each other’s territories, deepening overall defense and military cooperation,” it said.
New Zealand Ambassador to the Philippines Catherine McIntosh attended the Manila meeting, while other members of Wellington’s delegation participated virtually.
From the Philippines’ side, negotiators included officials from the departments of defense, justice and foreign affairs, as well as the Presidential Commission on Visiting Forces.
Last month, the Philippine Senate ratified the same defense agreement with Japan. The Southeast Asian country has also signed similar defense pacts with the US and Australia, and has begun talks with France.
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, brushing aside competing claims from several nations in the region, including Taiwan and the Philippines, and an international ruling that its stance has no legal basis.
There have been frequent clashes or tense standoffs between Philippine and Chinese vessels in the strategic waterway.
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
DELAYED BUT DETERMINED: The president’s visit highlights Taiwan’s right to international engagement amid regional pressure from China President Willaim Lai (賴清德) yesterday arrived in Eswatini, more than a week after his planned visit to Taiwan’s sole African ally was suspended because of revoked overflight permits. “The visit, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed due to unforeseen external factors,” Lai wrote on social media. “After several days of careful arrangements by our diplomatic and national security teams, we successfully arrived today.” Lai said he looked forward to further deepening Taiwan-Eswatini relations through closer cooperation in the economy, agriculture, culture and education, as well as advancing the nation’s international partnerships. The president was initially scheduled to arrive in time to celebrate
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
A group affiliated with indicted Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) is to be dissolved for monitoring Chinese immigrants in Taiwan, a source said yesterday. Xu, the secretary-general of the Cross-Strait Marriage and Family Service Alliance, was indicted on March 24 on charges of violating the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法). The alliance “illegally monitored" Chinese immigrants living in Taiwan on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Ministry of the Interior is expected to dissolve the organization in the coming days under provisions of the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法), the source said. Xu, who married a Taiwanese in 1993 and became a Republic
RSS