Tag Archive for: Philippines

Philippines: Aquino wants peace in Mindanao

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Philippine President Benigno Aquino III

There are plenty of reasons for scepticism over the talks planned for early next month to bring about some form of settlement in the Philippines’ southern island of Mindanao, which has been torn by Muslim separatist conflicts since the 1960s. But there are reasons for hope as well.

The most substantial of those is that Benigno Aquino III, President of the Philippines, wants a settlement before his six-year term is up in 2016. Some of his predecessors have sought settlements, but one or another aspect of those proposals to bring peace has fallen through. It’ll be hard for the new talks not to be dragged down by the memories of past failures and the suspicions they’ve engendered.

It won’t be up to the negotiators alone: the main Philippines Government representative and the representative of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Nor will it be up to the Malaysian facilitator. Malaysia will probably host these talks, as it has hosted talks in the past. But the facilitator makes a point of not having the role of being a negotiator as well. Read more

Philippines takes China’s dashes to UN

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“What belongs to us belongs to us,” Benigno S. Aquino III, President of the Philippines, said in a speech marking the 115th anniversary of the country’s navy. In January of this year the Philippines, rather boldly, and all alone, took China to an international tribunal over its nine-dash line on a map marking vast areas of the South China Sea over which China claims sovereignty. The broken line blithely includes islands that lie within 270 kilometres of the Philippines coast and which the Philippines claims is theirs under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

All five judges to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) have now been appointed. The case doesn’t need China’s agreement to proceed. China was offered the right to appoint an arbitrator but waived it.

The Chinese nine-dash map includes areas that have been claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, and Vietnam. Taiwan’s claims echo those of China. No other country has joined the Philippines and Japan, which has a different territorial dispute with China, has also stayed to one side.

Map showing nine-dash line

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