country:the philippines

Tensions erupt between the Philippines and China over disputed island - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/03/30/phil-m30.html

Tensions erupt between the Philippines and China over disputed island
By Joseph Santolan
30 March 2017

Over the past several weeks, sharp tensions emerged between Beijing and Manila over the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, exposing the advanced character of the crisis gripping the Philippines, a result of Washington’s preparations for war with China.

The Scarborough Shoal is a triangular chain of rocks and atolls located 140 miles west of the Philippine island of Luzon. In the wake of the Obama administration’s launching its “pivot to Asia” in 2010, this collection of rocks in the South China Sea became the subject of fierce contention. Manila and Beijing came to the brink of a shooting war over the shoal in a military stand-off that lasted for months in the first half of 2012.

#mer_de_chine_méridionale

La bagarre juridique pour la #Mer_de_Chine_méridionale pourrait avoir des retombées désastreuses pour les É.-U. …

U.S., Japan, and Other Nations Could Lose Exclusive Economic Zones - Bloomberg
▻http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-07-28/u-s-japan-and-other-nations-could-lose-exclusive-economic-zones

The U.S. and other coastal nations could lose millions of square nautical miles of ocean that are now in their exclusive economic zones. The loss would be an indirect result of an arbitration panel’s ruling on China’s dispute with the Philippines in the South China Sea.

Largely overlooked in the tribunal’s July 12 decision was a strict interpretation of which dry land is entitled to a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone—the surrounding ocean where a nation has sole rights to fish, drill for oil, and search for minerals. While not a legal precedent, the 479-page ruling could influence other judges and arbitrators because of its rigorous argument. “These arbitrators knew that this case was being watched around the world,” says Paul Reichler, a partner in law firm Foley Hoag and lead counsel for the Philippines. “They wanted it to be as close to perfect as possible.”

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea doesn’t allow nations to declare exclusive economic zones around “rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own.” What that’s meant has never been clear. Many countries, including the U.S. and Japan, have claimed exclusive economic zones around tiny atolls and outcroppings of rock. The U.S. hasn’t ratified the treaty because of opposition from congressional Republicans, who fear it would open the U.S. to lawsuits. But the U.S. “scrupulously” follows the treaty’s provisions anyway, says James Kraska, a law professor at the U.S. Naval War College. Push could come to shove if another nation seeks to fish or drill or mine in waters surrounding some dinky U.S. rock.

The tribunal concluded that having people live on an island doesn’t prove habitability if food and water comes from elsewhere. Countries will “now have a greatly reduced incentive” to fight over ownership of rocks if they no longer have exclusive zones, Kraska says. On the minus side, fisheries might be depleted quickly if countries lose the ability to curb fishing in these zones.

#Chine #Merdechineméridionale #Géopolitique #Asiedusudest #Conflits #Frontières #Frontières-maritimes

Tensions heighten in South China Sea
►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jul2012/scse-j26.shtml

By Peter Symonds
26 July 2012

Following the failure of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to agree on a final communiqué at its ministerial summit in mid-July, tensions over the South China Sea have continued to rise, in particular between China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

China announced over the weekend that a military garrison would be added to its recently established “city” of Sansha in the disputed Paracel Islands, provoking sharp criticism from Vietnam and the Philippines. The city of just over a thousand Chinese residents is designed as an administrative centre to bolster Beijing’s claims to the Paracel and Spratly groups, as well as the waters around them.

Rapprochement militaire entre les Philippines et les Etats-Unis

►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jun2012/aqui-j11.shtml

Philippine President Aquino in Washington boosts military ties
By Joseph Santolan
11 June 2012

Philippine President Benigno Aquino travelled to Washington from June 7 to 10, where he met with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and members of the US Senate. The meetings were part of Washington’s “pivot” to the Asia Pacific, a calculated policy for the strategic military containment of China. Increased military ties, intelligence sharing, and the dramatic expansion of the rotational deployment of US troops in the Philippines were all agreed upon during these meetings.

On June 5, two days before Aquino’s arrival, the US Senate unanimously passed Resolution 481, which called for US support for “increased Philippine defense modernization” and the “rotational presence of US armed forces in the Philippines.” The call for the rotational presence of US armed forces is part of the push for renewed basing arrangements in the Philippines, along the lines of the agreement reached by Washington and Canberra in November last year. It would allow the stationing of US troops in the Philippines and grant access to Philippine naval and military facilities.

Montée des tensions en Mer de Chine méridionale : « un miracle s’il n’y a pas de guerre ».

►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/pers-m19.shtml

A dangerous dispute in the South China Sea
19 May 2012

For more than a month, Philippine and Chinese vessels have been confronting each other near the Scarborough Shoal—a small group of disputed rocks in the South China Sea. What began as minor incident involving a warning by a Philippine ship to a Chinese fishing boat has escalated into a diplomatic row that risks military conflict.

The Philippines recently held joint military exercises with thousands of US troops, provocatively involving an amphibious operation and an assault on an oil rig. Pro-government groups have staged inflammatory anti-Chinese protests in the Philippines, and outside Chinese consulates in other countries. China reacted by blocking Philippine banana imports and issuing travel warnings to Chinese tourists. The Chinese navy has held its own exercises, including landing drills, in the South China Sea, amid warmongering in the state media.

’40 percent of male foreign tourists on sex tours’ - The Philippine Star » News » Headlines
►http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=729980&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, #Philippines - At least 40 percent of male foreign tourists in the country, including Americans, come for sexual tourism, US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. said yesterday.

“I estimate that maybe up to 40 percent of foreign men who come here come for sexual tourism and that is unacceptable.

And any of them engaged in things that violate the law whether they are American or other foreigner should be prosecuted. That is against human values,” Thomas said during a roundtable discussion on human trafficking organized by the Supreme Court, Philippine Judicial Academy in partnership with the Court of Appeals and US Department of Justice Criminal Division.

Thomas said the US wants the Philippines to refine and strengthen its anti-trafficking law to ensure the conviction of foreigners involved in the crime.

He said he also told President Aquino and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima that the US government is resolved to prosecute any American involved in cybersex and human trafficking.

Thomas said the US provided over $6.6 million to the Philippines for its anti-trafficking program and training.

“I think that the conviction rate improved in the last year and there were record number of 25 convictions… But this is a large country of many provinces and some provinces, some towns no prosecutions, no arrests,” Thomas said.

“And that is unacceptable especially when you have places where you have shelters for victims so you know there is a lot of trafficking going on. It is not up to us to dictate, we just ask that the courts and the legislature work together to strengthen gaps in it so that people and those who commit this crime are successfully prosecuted,” he added.

#tourisme_sexuel

Solar bottle lights in the Philippines | Knowtex
►http://www.knowtex.com/nav/solar-bottle-lights-in-the-philippines_24928

Un peu d’astuce pour un peu plus de lumière (via @ylakim sur Twitter)

#Wikileaks cables on the US opposition to #Philippines legislation on affordable #medicines | Knowledge Ecology International
►http://keionline.org/node/1225

Another incredible element of the cables are the admissions that the Philippines government is simply trying to protect poor people — at the same time the Embassy and White House trade officials are plotting against poor people. For example, this is from a September 11, 2009 cable by Kristie Kenney, then the United States Ambassador to the Philippines (currently Ambassador to Thailand).

“Prescription medication prices in the Philippines are the second highest in Asia (next to Japan), in a country where about a third of the population subsists below the official poverty line. In this instance, some multinational companies failed to recognize that cheaper medicine for the masses is an emotional and political issue.”

#pharma #brevets #cablegate

Je viens de voir Machete Maidens Unleashed !, un documentaire sur 20 ans de cinéma d’exploitation aux Philippines :
►http://www.machetemaidensunleashed.com

Machete Maidens Unleashed! is the first detailed examination and celebration of Filipino genre filmmaking - a world where stunt men came cheap, plot was obsolete and the make-up guy was packin’ heat!

From the early ’70s well into the ’90s the Philippines was a back-lot for a bevy of renegade B-movie makers and cinema visionaries alike. The country was utilized for its inexpensive labour, exotic locations and distinct lack of rules. A tidal schlock-wave of genre work emerged that somehow managed to capture the raw, chaotic energy of contemporary Filipino culture. These productions (a cavalcade of monster movies, jungle prison movies, blaxploitation and kung fu hybrids) were miraculously made at a time when the country’s political situation was repressive at best. But, this was a revolution that even the Marcos dictatorship couldn’t crush!

Il y a des choses vraiment sympathiques là-dedans, notamment parce qu’il y a le témoignage de John Landis (qui est toujours marrant et pertinent), mais c’est globalement très foutraque. Le documentaire peine à rester sur son sujet. Au début, le sujet est clairement le cinéma d’exploitation aux Philippines, ensuite on a l’impression que c’est un documentaire sur Roger Corman, ensuite un passage pas très clair sur la dictature Marcos, ensuite des productions semble-t-il purement locales (pas clair, alors que tout le début ne parlait que de productions américaines), évocation de Weng Weng...

#cinéma_barré #documentaire #film