Miscellaneous News
- Thread starter bd popeye
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Absolute traitors the lot of them
Says from her probably well lighten and comfortable heated apartment in some nice European city probably using her 1 Gbps internet connection.
Of course she will never advocate for reasonable negotiations to end the war as soon as possible, she looks like more than please to use her own fellow citizens as cannon fodder for the power interest of some groups that are not even Ukrainian.
Just saying.
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Lets she how she fares when the entire EU is deep in a migrant crisis along with an energy crisis that is looking to last years. And if she is in the USA, she needs to look closely because the USA is not going to be able to play around like this forever
well, heated and lighted for now. whether that remains the case is to be seen.
Use solar power, please.
Not all bro, a lot of Filipinos share the renowned Roberto Tiglao sentiments and our tribe is increasing, the American Desperation is all plain to see and we felt the wind of change blowing to our direction, The Asian Century is upon us and we should hold it dear and NOT let an interloper spoiled it for us.
Don't believe Harris re US help
November 25, 2022
AS always, US officials, this time Vice President Kamala Harris, have proven to be masters of prevarication, of ambiguity and of propaganda.
"Harris affirms US pledge to defend PH"; "Harris urges defense of sovereignty in South China Sea"; "US ready to defend PH vs armed attack in SCS." These were the headlines describing Harris' alleged assurances that we fall under the US eagle's wings.
Her most detailed statement, "An armed attack on the Philippines' armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the South China Sea would invoke US Mutual Defense commitments. And that is an unwavering commitment that we have to the Philippines," is what she told President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Harris and other US officials refer to the South China Sea, never to the Spratlys (Kalayaan Islands) nor Panatag Shoal, which make up our dispute with China.
US officials are certainly clever wordsmiths. What we think they are saying is that they will defend us in our territorial disputes over the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal.
What they are really saying is other than an outright armed attack on our occupied islands in the Spratlys or on our forces — which is very unlikely in this day and age — they cannot interfere in our territorial disputes with China, Vietnam and Malaysia, since they are officially neutral over these squabbles, and they themselves don't have any territorial claims in the entire South China Sea.
The US can only watch China's moves to assert its sovereignty in the Spratlys, as they have done since 1988, since it is bound by their official government policy not to intervene in territorial disputes of other countries.
And the Chinese have been clever enough not to have engaged, nor will it engage, in fire fights with us in the Spratlys, which we call the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), a municipality of Palawan.
Helped?
Has the US helped us to defend our territorial claims ever? Absolutely not.
The Chinese occupied unchallenged seven reefs in the KIG (as did the Vietnamese) in 1988 when President Cory Aquino was too busy fending off coup attempts and the resurgence of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
They built the first structure on one of these reefs, Mischief Reef, in 1994, which the Fidel Ramos administration discovered months later after being alerted by a fisherman. What Ramos did was to send the press (including me) to fly by military helicopters over the reef, to take pictures either to create international outrage (which didn't really happen) or, I highly suspect, to get the Chinese to fire at the Hueys, suspecting they were on a strafing or bombing mission, and kill the media men — which would really create that outrage.
A Chinese civilian government vessel simply blocked and shooed off a First Pacific-Enrique Razon surveying ship in 2011 away from the Reed Bank (part of the Spratlys). No help from the US.
The Chinese sent dozens of coast guard ships and civilian fishing vessels into Scarborough Shoal's (Panatag) lagoon in a stand-off with our vessels in 2012, until the US fooled President Aquino 3rd into ordering our ships to abandon the area. Even the mighty US armed forces simply watched the Chinese transform from 2014 to 2015 the seven reefs they had occupied in the KIG into islands with facilities that could make them at a moment's notice military fortresses.*
Zilch
Did we get help from the US? Zilch, the Americans instead frightened the Aquino 3rd government into agreeing to allow five of our camps to be used as their bases whenever they want, in what is euphemistically called the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
Harris is simply mouthing motherhood statements, self-serving propaganda that won't help us at all in our territorial and maritime-claim disputes in the South China. It is the siren song that she and other US officials have sung so often to lure and fool us into crawlig under the US Eagle's wings, scaring us that if we don't, the big bad wolf that is China will eat us.
Every single ranking US official on a visit to the Philippines makes these empty assurances. I don't understand why we still believe them, and make these our newspapers' banner stories, when any reading of the Mutual Defense Treaty, a bit of reasoning, and studying the Scarborough Shoal stand-off in 2012 clearly show these "commitments" are unadulterated hogwash.
Other than the fact that the Chinese have proven to be clever enough not to militarily attack our troops in the KIG and Scarborough, there is a provision in the Mutual Defense Treaty that ties Pentagon's hands in the issue of defending us in these territories we claim.
MDT
The 1951 US Mutual Defense Treaty's (MDT) Article V reads as follows:
"For the purpose of Article IV, an armed attack on either of the Parties is deemed to include an armed attack on the metropolitan territory of either of the Parties, or on the island territories under its jurisdiction in the Pacific or on its armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific." (My itals.)
The kindest meaning of "metropolitan territory" for us is our mainland, not necessarily a place that is densely populated as the word "metropolis" means. But do "island territories under its jurisdiction" mean the Kalayaan Island Group established by Presidential Decree 1596 in 1978 by Ferdinand E. Marcos?
No. The Spratlys group is claimed by not just China but Vietnam, Taiwan and partly by Malaysia which have seized and occupied many of the islands and reefs there. Even if we occupy 10 features, the US doesn't recognize our sovereignty over these, and therefore are not within our "jurisdiction" as defined by the MDT.
KIG
But our entire South China Sea disputes, especially with China has been almost totally about the KIG. The Reed Bank area near the Malampaya wells, believed to be as rich in natural gas as the nearby Malampaya gas field, is also arguably within the KIG.
Have Harris, President Biden, nor any other US official said that the US will come to our defense if we assert our sovereignty over the KIG? No.
Have Harris nor any other US official ever used the term "West Philippine Sea" invented by Aquino 3rd to refer to the EEZ west of Luzon, nor even the KIG? No. The US doesn't recognize our claims to these.
Why? Because the US official stance is that it does not recognize the KIG as part of our territory under our jurisdiction — to use the MDT's terms.
The US official policy that it cannot interfere in a conflict in the KIG because it is a disputed territory is contained in the "Maritime Claims Reference Manual" of the US Navy's Judge Advocate General, which declares the US government stand on all countries' maritime claims.
PD 1596
In the Philippine section it notes that PD 1596 "declared 33 islands, cays, shoals and reefs contained in a delimited area (Kalayaan Island Group) of the Spratly Islands to be Philippine territory."
It declares, "This claim is disputed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia. The US does not take a position on territorial disputes in the Spratly Islands."
The US indeed invoked its policy of not interfering in a territorial dispute when Aquino 3rd begged President Obama — even rushing to meet the American leader in Washington in June 2012 — to escort Philippine vessels into Scarborough Shoal. Obama refused the plea.
There is no doubt of course that the US will come to our assistance if China attacks, in the MDT's terms, our "metropolitan territory," most likely Puerto Princesa and Mactan since there are the two EDCA bases there — Antonio Bautista Air Base and Benito Ebuen Air Base, respectively,
But that would be an entirely different scenario: a war between the US and China. China won't send soldiers to invade the country — what for? China will "send" missile-delivered nuclear bombs to destroy those US bases, made possible by EDCA. But the US will come to our defense only by nuking Chinese cities of comparable sizes, to keep the door open for negotiations to prevent an all-out nuclear war.
What irony indeed. The Aquino administration's gullibility that the US will defend us against China that it agreed to have the EDCA will likely force that superpower's hands to nuke us.
Reversing that Yellow regime's colossal foreign affairs error should be Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s priority.
Yeah about that.
They should have followed China and go into nuclear a long time ago. But irrational activists derailed Europe nuclear industry
China to host Cuban, Mongolian, Lao leaders consecutively
Attraction of development wisdom, international relations ideal evidenced in diplomatic whirlwind
By Zhang Han and Wan Hengyi Published: Nov 24, 2022 09:47 PM
In the third wave of diplomatic activities after China successfully concluded the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the country is scheduled to receive visiting Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez this week and host Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh and Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith in the coming week.
According to the Financial Times, European Council President Charles Michel will also visit China next week, while Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday at a routine press conference that China will announce the relevant information in due course.
The previous two waves were Chinese President Xi Jinping's Southeast Asian tour from November 14 to19 for the G20 summit and the APEC meetings, where he also held a whirlwind series of face-to-face bilateral meetings with several other leaders, and the previous intensive visits by general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The frequent visits by leaders from countries located in different continents, with different political systems and development paths, were perceived by observers as showing that China's growth not only benefits its own people, but also provides development wisdom and cooperation opportunities for other countries.
It is evidence that China is willing to seek joint prosperity with more countries, regardless of their geographic location, political system and development stage to collectively build a community of shared future for mankind.
Diaz-Canel, who is also first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, will visit China until Saturday at the invitation of Xi. Diaz-Canel is the first head of state from the Latin America and Caribbean region to visit China after the 20th CPC National Congress.
Mao said at a routine press briefing on Monday it is believed that Diaz-Canel's visit will inject impetus into bilateral relations and advance the two countries' traditional friendship and cooperation, Mao said.
China and Cuba are "good friends, good comrades and good brothers," standing together in fighting against hegemony, unilateralism and protectionism, and have been cooperating on trade, medical and cultural exchanges, Pan Deng, executive director of the Latin American and Caribbean Region Law Center of China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times.
Visits by neighbors
After Diaz-Canel, Mongolian President Khurelsuh . Xi will hold formal talks with Khurelsuh and the two presidents will jointly witness the signing of cooperation documents, according to China's Foreign Ministry.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress will also meet with Khurelsuh.
The high-level exchanges are likely to cover international hot-button issues such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the joint response to the complicated geopolitical situation, analysts said.
China's market, capital and technology are highly complementary to Mongolia's resource advantages and the two countries also have great potential to enhance cooperation under the framework of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), analysts said, as Mongolia can be an important transit hub on the route.
The visit by Lao President Thongloun, who is also general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee, from November 29 to December 1, was announced on Thursday by the International Department of the CPC Central Committee.
The announcement of the visit by a CPC department underscored the unique inter-party relations and positive interactions between two socialist countries, observers said, adding that the two countries have high-level mutual political trust and joint projects, many of which are under the BRI, that have brought tangible benefits to the people.
Xu Liping, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday that China and Laos eye deepening their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. Laos is one of the earliest countries to build a bilateral community of shared future with China, and such a course for bilateral relations suggested the two countries share similar stance on strategic issues, have a high-level of mutual trust and share close views on many issues related to domestic growth, regional and global prosperity, experts noted.
The China-Laos Railway, a landmark project, forges greater synergy between China's BRI with the strategy of Laos to transform itself from a land-locked to a land-linked country, Lao Ambassador to China Khamphao Ernthavanh told the Global Times in an earlier exclusive interview.
China has always pursued a peaceful rise, and a crucial premise to realizing that goal is to develop stable and healthy diplomatic relations with its neighbors. This means China will spare no effort in maintaining regional security and advancing regional prosperity, Xu said.
The expert hailed China's relations with Laos and Mongolia as exemplars of countries of different scales forging ties out of mutual respect, equality and win-win cooperation.
Being the second largest economy in the world, China is striving to realize common development with others through the BRI, the Global Development Initiative and many other proposals, Xu said.
Pan Deng, citing Cuba's decades-long struggle for development and better livelihoods for its people, outlined a stark contrast between China's approach and the US' "beggar-thy-neighbor" approach.
When China makes effort to bring about joint prosperity and conduct cooperation regardless of partners' systems and ideologies, the US wages a war of values against what Washington deems as a rivalry, with Cuba being one of the victims, ties allies to the US chariot using the "ideology card" and in the latest example, causes the EU to bleed. It also hijacks its neighbors to gather bargaining chips in a US-dominated geopolitical game, sacrificing the development of the whole of Latin America, Pan elaborated.
ASEAN's rather cold response toward the US' regional strategy and have demonstrated that more and more countries are tired of US-led bloc confrontation, unilateralism and hegemonic coercion, as only cooperation can help the world overcome sluggish economic recovery and geopolitical turbulence, observers said.
Not alone on the way
Vietnam, Cuba and Laos are all socialist countries. Amid the complicated and fast-changing international situation, where socialism should go and how we get there becomes a shared question for us all, Xu said. "China is exploring the answer based on its own experience, and has made innovations in theory at the just concluded 20th CPC National Congress."
Facing unprecedented changes, it is important for socialist countries to enhance exchanges on socialist theories and practices, continue to improve governance capabilities, and join hands on the international stage for a collective socialist cause, Xu noted.
China's modernization path, from a war-battered agricultural country in 1949 to a moderately prosperous society in all respects today at the centenary of the CPC, and the further goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts, was charted clearly at the key congress.
Analysts said China's wisdom of socialist modernization will hopefully inspire more comrades to figure out a development approach tailored to their own realities, and China's ideal of new type of international relations, as elaborated in its recent diplomatic flurry of activity, is being embraced by more countries of different national conditions, political systems and development phases.
