China is the "biggest disruptor" of peace in Southeast Asia, Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro said today, as tensions between Manila and Beijing over disputed reefs and waters in the South China Sea escalate.
Teodoro made the remarks at a conference of the US Indo-Pacific Command after repeated confrontations between Philippine and Chinese vessels in the waterway over the past 12 months.
Beijing claims almost the entirety of the sea, brushing aside rival claims by other countries, including Taiwan and the Philippines, and an international ruling that its stance has no legal basis.
Photo: AP
China's claims include reefs and waters inside the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends about 370km from the country's coastal waters.
"China ... is the biggest disruptor of international peace in the ASEAN region," Teodoro said.
Speaking to reporters, Teodoro urged other countries to call out China's "illegal acts" until it yields to pressure to stop its actions.
"We need a collective consensus and a strong call out against China," said Teodoro. "We are struggling against a more powerful adversary."
His comments come a day after China said it took "control measures" against two Philippine Coast Guard ships that had entered waters near Sabina Shoal (Xianbin, 仙賓礁) in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島).
The Philippine Coast Guard had sent two vessels to deliver provisions to one of its ships at the reef.
They were forced to abandon the mission due to China's "excessive" deployment of ships and rough sea conditions, Commodore Jay Tarriela, a spokesman for Manila's coast guard, said yesterday.
Several confrontations have taken place in recent days around Sabina Shoal, located 140km west of the Philippine island of Palawan and about 1,200km from Hainan Island, China's nearest major landmass.
Both sides have stationed coast guard vessels at the shoal in recent months. Manila fears Beijing is about to build an artificial island.
VAGUE: The criteria of the amnesty remain unclear, but it would cover political violence from 1999 to today, and those convicted of murder or drug trafficking would not qualify Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. The measure had long been sought by the US-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency. Rodriguez also announced the shutdown
Civil society leaders and members of a left-wing coalition yesterday filed impeachment complaints against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, restarting a process sidelined by the Supreme Court last year. Both cases accuse Duterte of misusing public funds during her term as education secretary, while one revives allegations that she threatened to assassinate former ally Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The filings come on the same day that a committee in the House of Representatives was to begin hearings into impeachment complaints against Marcos, accused of corruption tied to a spiraling scandal over bogus flood control projects. Under the constitution, an impeachment by the
Exiled Tibetans began a unique global election yesterday for a government representing a homeland many have never seen, as part of a democratic exercise voters say carries great weight. From red-robed Buddhist monks in the snowy Himalayas, to political exiles in megacities across South Asia, to refugees in Australia, Europe and North America, voting takes place in 27 countries — but not China. “Elections ... show that the struggle for Tibet’s freedom and independence continues from generation to generation,” said candidate Gyaltsen Chokye, 33, who is based in the Indian hill-town of Dharamsala, headquarters of the government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). It
A Virginia man having an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair on Monday was found guilty of murdering his wife and another man that prosecutors say was lured to the house as a fall guy. Brendan Banfield, a former Internal Revenue Service law enforcement officer, told police he came across Joseph Ryan attacking his wife, Christine Banfield, with a knife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. He shot Ryan and then Juliana Magalhaes, the au pair, shot him, too, but officials argued in court that the story was too good to be true, telling jurors that Brendan Banfield set
RSS