MANILA – Soon after Lai Ching-te won Taiwan’s January 13 presidential election, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr made an unprecedented congratulatory call to the independence-leaning new leader who’s firmly in Beijing’s crosshairs. According to official reports of the conversation, Marcos Jr congratulated Lai as “Taiwan’s next president” while looking forward to “close collaboration, strengthening mutual interests […]

The post Fret not Taiwan, Marcos Jr has your back appeared first on Asia Times.

MANILA – The Filipino military chief has announced new plans for massive construction activities across all Philippine-claimed land features in the South China Sea, a move that promises to intensify already hot tensions with China over contested territories. General Romeo Brawner made the high-stakes announcement, which covers as many as nine disputed sea features, directly […]

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After an almost seven-year imprisonment, former senator Leila De Lima was released on bail in November 2023. In her speech, she thanked the Marcos administration for respecting the rule of law.  De Lima’s choice of words is not accidental. It was a loaded statement to fan the growing political wedge between the Marcos and the Duterte families […]

The post Deep, dark cracks in the Marcos-Duterte alliance appeared first on Asia Times.

MANILA – South China Sea disputes pitting China against Southeast Asian claimants are fast shaping to become the region’s major flashpoint of 2024. In its final act as the outgoing chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indonesia corralled the bloc’s foreign ministers for an unprecedented diplomatic intervention. As the world prepared for […]

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MANILA – “China-Philippines relations are at a crossroads. Faced with the choice of where to go, the Philippines must act with caution,” warned Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat during a recent testy conversation with his Filipino counterpart, Enrique Manalo. According to a readout of the exchange, China squarely blamed the Southeast Asian nation for rising […]

The post Why Marcos Jr wants to go toe-to-toe with China appeared first on Asia Times.

Following the conclusion of President Xi Jinping’s Hanoi trip earlier this week, China has claimed itself to be Vietnam’s best choice for trade and diplomatic partnerships in the Asia Pacific region. Perhaps, but the proof will be in the pudding. Will Vietnam directly export its rare earths, as the US hopes, or send them for processing […]

The post China wants role in US-Vietnam rare earths plan appeared first on Asia Times.

MANILA – “History has proven that they are not serious and have no sincerity when it comes to peace negotiations,” declared Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte in a spirited speech castigating the Marcos Jr administration’s plan to renew long-stalled peace negotiations with communist rebels. “They will use this peace negotiation to betray the government and […]

The post Marcos Jr in a delicate and dangerous three-front war appeared first on Asia Times.

MANILA – In yet another sign of Manila’s growing strategic resolve, the Philippines inaugurated a new coast guard monitory base in the hotly disputed South China Sea. Established on Thitu Island, the second-largest naturally-formed land feature in the Spratlys, the two-story facility boasts “advanced systems” including radars and satellite communication equipment as well as vessel […]

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MANILA – “I do not think anybody wants to go to war,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said following his meeting with Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco last week. “We really should view this as a work in progress. It’s a process,” Marcos Jr […]

The post Marcos doubles down on his double game with China appeared first on Asia Times.

MANILA – The annual Kamandag exercises now underway in the Philippines are making a multinational splash with an estimated 2,749 participating troops, including 1,732 from the Philippines, 902 from the US, 57 from South Korea, 50 from Japan and eight from the United Kingdom. Significantly, the show of unified force comes as the Philippines and […]

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MANILA – “Are you sure you (Filipinos) want to get into a fight where you will be the battleground?”, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong cautioned at a recent forum in the city-state when asked about rising tensions in the South China Sea. The leader’s comments came shortly after yet another incident that risked tilting […]

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MANILA – “I am honored to have the opportunity to be the first Japanese Prime Minister to speak here at the Congress of the Philippines, which has a long tradition,” Fumio Kishida said before the Special Joint Session of Philippine legislature during his two-day official visit to Manila last week. During the historic speech, the […]

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MANILA – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr was not among the 23 national leaders who attended last month’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) summit in Beijing, marking the 10th anniversary of the US$1 trillion globe-spanning infrastructure-building program. At the event, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced close to $100 billion in new state policy bank financing […]

The post Why the Philippines is exiting the Belt and Road appeared first on Asia Times.

MANILA – “My suggestion for the president is to crack the whip with his Cabinet, especially the poorly performing members of the Cabinet who do not help but are instead harming the president,” said Senator Miguel Zubiri, a key ally of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. His advice for a shake-up comes amid an authoritative […]

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MANILA – “With this show of force and active engagement of our allies and partners, ‘Sama Sama’ transcends mere military exercises,” Philippine Navy Chief Rear Admiral Toribio Adaci said during the recent opening of large-scale naval exercises with allied nations in the South China Sea. As many as 1,800 participants from the United States, a […]

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MANILA – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr promised to halve the price of rice to as low as 20 pesos per kilogram on the campaign trail last year. Upon winning election, he reiterated his populist vow during a triumphant inauguration speech where the namesake son of a former Philippine strongman waxed eloquent about a future […]

The post Rice price crisis dents Marcos Jr’s populist appeal appeared first on Asia Times.

In his second State of the Nation address, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr proudly trumpeted the dawn of Bagong Pilipinas (New Philippines).  “I have stated before that my confidence in our future was grounded in our world-class quality workforce,” he said. “I know that the state of the nation is sound and is improving. The New Philippines has arrived.”  […]

The post Marcos Jr announces ‘New Philippines’ with echo of the old appeared first on Asia Times.

MANILA – “Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, the Philippine Navy patrols the country’s territories in the West Philippine Sea to show and enforce our claims in the area,” declared Captain Noli Ibanez, the commanding officer of the BRP Jose Rizal, the nation’s most modern frigate. Just over a decade ago, the Southeast […]

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Is war between the United States and China inevitable? This was the central question asked of panelists at the opening session of this year’s Asia-Pacific Roundtable in Kuala Lumpur. My answer was “No, it is not inevitable, but it is no longer unimaginable or as unlikely as it was a few short years ago, and the trends […]

The post US policy toward China: three do’s and a don’t appeared first on Asia Times.

MANILA – The Philippines is leveraging a widening network of alliances to assert its stance in the South China Sea, a strategy that threatens to put it on a steeper collision course with China over contested features in the disputed waters. Rising tensions over the Second Thomas Shoal have only reinforced the Philippines’ resolve to […]

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