Military aggression

Any hostile act of the China Coast Guard against Philippine vessels must therefore be regarded as a military action. And blasting any Philippine Coast Guard vessel with a water cannon within the West Philippine sea cannot be considered a friendly action by the CCG. It is Chinese military aggression conducted within Philippine sovereign waters, as defined under the 2016 arbitral ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the hague – a ruling based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the sea.

Editorial

on Aug. 5, a CCG ship used a water cannon on PCG vessels escorting civilian boats on a resupply mission to the BrP sierra madre in Ayungin or second thomas shoal. the shoal is one of the features in the south China sea that was specifically mentioned in the arbitral award, over which the Philippines has sovereign rights and exclusive maritime entitlements. the arbitral ruling also

Babe’s Eye View

BaBe Romualdez from what we hear, the meeting that took place between President ferdinand marcos Jr. and former President rodrigo Duterte last Wednesday, August 2 was very good and cordial, and one of the issues discussed was the recent meeting of former president Duterte with Chinese president Xi Jinping in Beijing last July 17.

President Bongbong had earlier expressed hopes that the meeting between President Xi and the former president would include the recent developments in the West Philippine sea. the president was clever to recognize that the rapport between Xi and his predecessor could be another open line of communication in finding ways to resolve issues in a peaceful manner. It seems the former president is confident enough in his relationship with Xi to ask China to “look kindly to the Philippines” on the WPs issue, as told by senate President migz Zubiri.

Virtual Reality

oN July 27, 2023, two U.s senators, elizabeth Warren (Democrat, massachusetts) and Lindsay Graham (republican, south Carolina) announced a bill seeking to rein in Big tech by creating a Big Cop to regulate the online activities of America’s largest, richest and most powerful technology companies. the companies include: Amazon ($134 billion in second quarter 2023 revenues, up 10 percent, and $6.75 billion in profits, up 433 percent); Apple ($81.8 billion in second quarter revenues, down 1 percent, and $19.88 billion in net, up 2 percent); Alphabet ($74.6 billion in quarterly revenues, up 7 percent, and $18.37 billion in net, up 15 percent); microsoft ($56.19 billion in quarterly revenues, up 8 percent, and $20.08 billion in net, up 20 percent) and meta ($32 billion in quarterly revenues, up 11 percent, and $7.79 billion net, up 16 percent).

In June this year, Apple was the first company to reach a market capitalization of $3 invalidated China’s sweeping ninedash-line claim over nearly the entire south China sea. the Philippines has filed multiple protests againt illegal Chinese Coast Guard activities in the West Philippine sea, including swarming of CCG and militia vessels to block filipino fishing boats, and aiming a powerful laser beam at a PCG ship. so far, Beijing has shrugged off the protests. the latest incident occurred just days after CmC supreme commander Xi Jinping and his top foreign affairs team welcomed former President rodrigo Duterte to Beijing, with the marcos administration kept in the dark about the visit. Despite Duterte’s meeting with President marcos days after the trip, details provided to the media about what transpired with Xi remain vague, except for the reiteration of China’s message of friendship with the Philippines. friends don’t train water cannons at the other’s ship, especially one on a resupply mission. friends don’t drive away the other’s fishing boats from its own waters. And friends don’t prevent freedom of navigation and flight beyond their domains as defined under international rules. the Philippines needs to recalibrate its responses to the activities of the CCG, including drawing on its alliances with other countries for a more effective response to Chinese military aggression. (Philstar.com)