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LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • dEcEmbER 15-21, 2016
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US senator’s bill targets China aggression in South China Sea by Camille
Diola Philstar.com
FLORIDA lawmaker Marco Rubio introduced at the United States Senate a proposed bill seeking to sanction Chinese individuals and entities that participate in “illegitimate operations” in the South China Sea and East China Sea. In a statement earlier this month, Rubio said the security of US allies in the western Pacific “cannot be endangered by Beijing’s ongoing flagrant violations of international norms in its pursuit of dominance in the South China Sea and East China Sea.” “China’s aggressive actions in the South China Sea are illegitimate and threaten the region’s security and American PAROL-MAKING WINNERS. Sen. Cynthia A. Villar hands a trophy to Bryan Flores who won tne first prize in the parol making contest during commerce, with reverberations the 11th Parol Festival in Las Pinas City. Flores also got P20,000 cash prize while Alicia Bencio (in red shirt) and a representative of Emeterio that can be felt here at home, Cabasal Jr. (in white blouse) also got P15,000 and P10,000, for the second and third place. The Parol Festival is an annual competition of giant parols made by Las Pineros. Also in the photo are DPWH Sec. Mark Villar and Diwa Partylist Rep. Emmeline Aglipay-Villar and their including Florida’s ports and daughter. Senate photo throughout our state’s shipping and cargo economy,” Rubio, a
Millionaires, CEOs & military personnel comprise... PAGE A2 Trump announced the appointment to a cheering rally in North Carolina on Tuesday, December 6, saying that Mattis was “one of the most effective generals that we’ve had in many, many decades.” Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education The billionaire former Republican Party chairwoman in Michigan has been a leader in the movement to drastically change the education landscape. Spending millions to push create programs and laws, DeVos — who has had no experience in the public school domain — successfully expanded the use public funds to pay for private/religious school tuition by way of vouchers and other like program in several states. After her nomination, her pro-voucher and pro-school choice agenda may play a key role in her new post, which coincides with Trump’s vow to divert funds away from the public education system, which he has described as “a governmentrun monopoly.” Tom Price, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Another one of Trump’s promises on the campaign trail was an end to President Barack Obama’s landmark health care laws, the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. With his appointment of Price — an orthopedic surgeon from Atlanta — as his HHS secretary, Trump may have a perfect solution to that promise. A strong critic of Obamacare, Price has offered a detailed health care plan to challenge and replace Obamacare since 2009 as Obamacare was being written. His suggested legislations — called the Empowering Patients First Act — would repeal Obamacare and offer “ageadjusted tax credits” for individual and group health plans, according to a report from The New York Times. This year, House Republicans have adopted several ideas from his plan in their issued “Better Way” agenda. Gen. John F. Kelly, Secretary of Homeland Security A retired four-star general, Gen. Kelly will be responsible for overseeing immigration under the Trump administration. As Southern Command chief, Kelly — in addition to commanding the Marines in Iraq
— organized and managed U.S. military operations in South and Central America, including the border. Kelly’s son, Robert, was killed in combat in Afghanistan, which made him the highest-ranking officer in the military to lose a child during the conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan. Critics also say this very quality was pivotal in Trump’s nomination following the backlash he received for criticizing the Khan family, a Muslim-American family who lost their son during the Iraq War. Like Trump, Kelly possesses strict concerns on the U.S./ Mexico border, including drug trafficking. Ben Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Although former Republican presidential nominee Ben Carson previously expressed disinterest in serving in Trump’s administration, Trump nominated the retired neurosurgeon to head the HUD department. Carson does not have experience in government, bureaucracy or housing policy, however, Trump has no doubt that Carson harbors the qualities necessary to uplifting cities and
towns across the U.S. “Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities,” Trump said in a statement on Monday, December 5. “We have talked at length about my urban renewal agenda and our message for economic revival, very much including our inner cities.” Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation One of the first women of color that Trump has nominated in his administration, Elaine Chao’s appointment as transportation secretary is crucial to those who call for more AsianAmerican and female representation in Washington. Chao previously served on former President George W. Bush’s Cabinet as the Secretary of Labor; in his administration, she was the only official to serve all eight years. Before that, she had been the deputy secretary of transportation from 1989-1991 during former President George H.W. Bush’s administration. A solid figure in the Republican establishment, Chao is married to Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and has campaigned for him.
Republican senator, said. He said the US should take concrete steps through his proposed South China Sea and East China Sea Sanctions Act to hold violations of international norms accountable as the world depends on freedom of navigation and overlight in the disputed waterway. “Consistent with international law, China should not be allowed to interfere in any way with the free use of the waters and airspace in the South China Sea and East China Sea by civilian and military ships and aircraft of all countries,” Rubio said. The Philippines, a close US ally, has long been embroiled in a row with China and some of its neighbors over overlapping territorial and maritime claims. In June, an arbitral tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea favored the Philippines in its decision and dismissed China’s nine-dash
line claim. Rubio’s bill, once a law, will require the US president to impose sanctions and prohibit visas for Chinese who contribute to construction or development projects or threaten peace and stability in the South China Sea. The act also imposes sanctions on foreign financial institutions that knowingly conduct transactions with sanctioned individuals if China “takes certains” actions such as declaring an air defense identification zone on Scarborough Shoal, which the Philippines calls Panatag Shoal. The legislation also seeks to prohibit the publication of documents portraying the South China and East China Seas as part of China. Even foreign countries that openly support China’s claims will receive only restricted assistance from the US once the bill is passed. n
Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of Treasury During the election race, the entrepreneur, Wall Street investor and former executive of Goldman Sachs — one of the banks that needed a government bailout during the 2008 recession— served as Trump’s campaign national finance chair. After 17 years of rising to the top of Goldman Sachs, Mnuchin left to begin his own hedge fund and also finances large, blockbuster films in Hollywood on the side. Scott Pruitt, Head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) When Trump nominated Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as the new head of the EPA, those that support climate change initiatives were outraged. Pruitt, who has close ties to the fossil fuel industry, has been a key player in challenging President Obama’s climate change policies. The appointment of the socalled “climate change denier” — whose stances coincide with Trump’s — outraged those who have been fighting for climate change initiatives in Congress, including former Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). “Trump’s nominee to lead
EPA, Scott Pruitt, is a climate denier who’s worked closely with the fossil fuel industry. That’s sad and dangerous,” Sanders tweeted on Wednesday, December 7 after the announcement. Linda McMahon, Head of the Small Business Administration (SBA) McMahon — co-founder and former CEO of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and a close friend of Trump — donated a total of $7.5 million to super-PACs that supported Trump’s campaign in August and September. In 2010 and 2012, McMahon ran for but failed to win the Republican Senate seat in Connecticut. Trump cited the WWE’s upward mobility from a “13-person operation to a publicly traded global enterprise” for McMahon’s nomination. “Linda is going to be a phenomenal leader and champion for small businesses and unleash America’s entrepreneurial spirit all across the country,” Trump said in a statement on Friday, December 9. Appointments for the Cabinet secretaries of State, the Interior, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Labor, and Energy are still pending, as of this writing. (Klarize Medenilla/AJPress)