china – StuartSantiago.com

Category: china

July 12, 2024 @ 4:32 pm.

July 12, 2016 was a very good day! #PNoy

Aminin na natin. It took chutzpah, audacity, what President Benigno Aquino III did in January 2013 when the Philippines instituted arbitral proceedings against China some months after da agawan sa Scarborough Shoal. Other presidents, from FVR to ERAP, GMA and RRD, were too careful to not antagonize China kahit anong kabastusan at kabulastugan nito sa karagatan nating pilit nitong inaangkin; or maybe they thought na madadaan pa ang Tsina sa magandang usapan LOL. No surprise then that PNoy’s closest advisers were divided on the matter, for and against arbitration court. Read former SC Chief Justice Antonio T. Carpio‘s first-hand account. Very interesting and impressive how PNoy simply stuck to his guns despite all underhanded attempts to stop him. Good good job!

AQUINO AND THE ARBITRATION AGAINST CHINA
By Antonio T. Carpio
July 1, 2021

One of the enduring legacies of President Benigno Aquino III is the Philippines’ landmark victory against China in the South China Sea Arbitration. It took courage and wisdom to sue China, an economic giant and a nuclear-armed superpower. President Aquino made the difficult decision even as his closest advisers were bitterly divided, with one faction against the arbitration and the other in favor of the arbitration.

These two factions fought from the beginning to the end. After consulting with Law of the Sea expert Paul Reichler and his team, then Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario submitted to Malacañang his Memorandum to President Aquino recommending favorably the filing of the arbitration case against China. Unfortunately, his Memorandum was rewritten in Malacañang, making it appear that he was against the filing of the arbitration case. Secretary del Rosario swiftly found a way to give to President Aquino his original recommendation. President Aquino then convened a meeting of national leaders who, except for one, all voted to file the arbitration case.

When Paul Reichler recommended the amendment of our Statement of Claim to include the status of Itu Aba as one of the issues to be resolved by the arbitral tribunal, the two factions fought again. Secretary del Rosario arranged for Paul Reichler and his team to meet President Aquino in Malacañang so our lawyers could explain to the President the need to amend our Statement of Claim. Paul Reichler and his team waited for four hours in Malacañang for President Aquino, only to be told by then Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. that the President could not meet them. Instead, Ochoa informed them that the instruction of the President was not to amend our Statement of Claim. Over dinner that evening, I asked Paul Reicher what he would do, and he replied he would discuss the status of Itu Aba in the Memorial without including it as an issue to be resolved by the tribunal.

When Paul Reichler submitted his draft Memorial to the Office of the President for approval, the two factions fought again. One faction wanted the 15 paragraphs in the Memorial explaining the status of Itu Aba to be deleted, while Secretary del Rosario insisted on the retention of the 15 paragraphs. I met with then Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and explained to her why the 15 paragraphs should be retained. I gave her a two-page brief on the matter to give to President Aquino, which she did. When President Aquino called the two factions to a meeting, he announced his decision — the 15 paragraphs would remain in the Memorial.

Incidentally, when journalist Marites Vitug interviewed President Aquino in 2017 for her book “Rock Solid,” she asked the President why he did not meet with Paul Reichler and his team. The President replied, in the presence of Secretary del Rosario, that nobody told him that Paul Reichler and his team were in Malacañang to see him.

Finally, for the last hearing at The Hague in November 2015, Secretary del Rosario as usual submitted to Malacañang the list of names of officials who would form the Philippine delegation. The list included my name as observer, but when the approval came out my name was deleted. Secretary del Rosario wrote back that if I would not be included he would not be joining the delegation. Malacañang reinstated my name.

When I arrived at The Hague, I found Paul Reichler and his team terribly upset. Solicitor General Florin Hilbay had earlier emailed them not to answer the questions of the arbitral tribunal on Itu Aba, questions that were previously emailed by the tribunal to our lawyers. At the meeting with our lawyers the evening before the first day of the hearing, I explained that in the Supreme Court, if lawyers refused to answer questions of the Court during oral arguments, that would be taken very strongly against them and they would likely lose their cases. Thankfully, Solgen Hilbay did not argue with me anymore and Paul Reichler and his team took that as a green light to answer all the questions of the tribunal.

The nation is eternally grateful to President Aquino for bravely filing the arbitration case and for steadfastly pursuing the straight and principled path until final victory.

acarpio@inquirer.com.ph

July 1, 2024 @ 8:47 pm.

Maritime Zones Act, bakit wala pa rin?

As far as I can tell from online sources, the House of Reps passed the Maritime Zones Act (MZA) in May 2023, the Senate passed it in Feb 2024, and the bicam review was passed by both chambers on the 19th of March. It should have lapsed into law 30 days after, if the President had not yet acted on it. But almost two months later, on May 15, the House of Reps recalled the ratified MZA for “further refinement.” At hanggang ngayon, wala pa rin. What’s going on? Are we “seeing” the hand of China in Congress?

WHERE’S THE LAW FOR PHL TO GET EVEN?
By Jarius Bondoc

Is there a peaceful way to retaliate against China’s attacks in the West Philippine Sea? Yes, says international maritime lawyer Jay Batongbacal, PhD.

With the Maritime Zones Act, the Philippines can demand diplomatic parity. Here’s how, says Batongbacal:

• If China assaults our resupplies and fishing in Ayungin and Panatag Shoals, then we can forbid Chinese passage through our internal waters.

• Reciprocally, if China respects our right to our own exclusive economic zone, then we will let them through.

Recall the June 17th atrocity. Five speedboats of more than 40 Chinese coastguards rammed a Philippine Navy rubber craft beside BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin. Eight Filipino sailors were about to unload food, water and equipment.

The enemy boarded, knifed and axed the rubber boat, fired lasers and looted supplies. They barred medivac of one Filipino whose thumb was severed by the ramming. All this was videoed.

China’s barbarism was well planned. Propaganda was ready. Within an hour its embassy disinformed that the Filipinos did the ramming and provoking.

On June 19th four People’s Liberation Army-Navy warships entered Philippine internal waters on “innocent passage.” Philippine Coast Watch monitored them.

Destroyer Luyang III (DDG168) and frigate Jiangkai II (FFG570) entered Balabac Strait between Palawan and Mindanao at 1:49 p.m. Destroyer Renhai (CG105) and replenishment oiler Fuchi (AOR907) followed at 3:56 p.m.

All sailed the international sea lane in our inner waters for hours then exited Surigao Strait to Pacific Ocean.

It’s impossible that the PLA-Navy didn’t know what its coastguards had done two days prior. They all report to the China Communist Party-Central Military Commission.

With the Maritime Zones Act we can bar any more Chinese naval pass through. No longer may it cross to and from South China Sea and Pacific Ocean via:

(1) Balintang and Babuyan Channels between Batanes and mainland Luzon;
(2) Balabac and Mindoro Straits on the west through Sulu Sea to Surigao Strait on the east and
(3) Sibutu Strait 16 nautical miles wide between Tawi-Tawi and Sabah onto Celebes Sea.

Without Balintang and Babuyan passage, China warships will have to sail farther north via Bashi Channel between Batanes and southern Taiwan. Or between northern Taiwan and Okinawa.

Without Mindoro, Balabac and Sibutu passage, China warships will have to veer far west between Singapore and Borneo, turn south at the Indian Ocean, then east to Celebes Sea onto the Pacific.

PLA-Navy sail times will prolong, costs will rise, operations will be hampered. As Sun Tzu said, “Begin by seizing something your opponent holds dear, then he will be amenable to your will.”

But where’s that Maritime Zones Act (MZA)? Where’s that potent legal weapon against China?

The Senate unanimously ratified the bicameral conference committee report on March 18th and the House also unanimously on March 19th. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should have signed it or it should have lapsed into law by now.

It has been reverted to the bicam, principal Senate author Francis Tolentino told Gotcha Monday. Why that procedural breach? Because of an apparent oversight.

“We need to reconcile the legal definitions of internal and archipelagic seas,” Tolentino said. “Since Congress is in recess, the bicam can’t muster a quorum, so we’ll have to wait ‘til July resumption.” Principal House author Rufus Rodriguez was askance: “I am puzzled why the bill has not yet been sent to the President for signature despite bicam approval last March.”

Sources blamed the Office of the Solicitor General. It belatedly questioned the constitutionality of the proviso on internal and archipelagic waters, they said. That’s strange, because the Senate and House consulted OSG lawyers every step of the way.

Queried, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra texted: “I’m not at liberty to comment on the bill. Final version is pending with Congress.”

Marcos is raring to sign the Philippine MZA, he told the Shangri-La Dialogue on global security, Singapore, May 31st. That will have to wait ‘til after his July 22nd State of the Nation.

The MZA rankles Beijing. It bad mouthed the bill for months. On April 21st the China Communist Party English-language organ Global Times lengthily quoted ex-president Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque bashing the MZA.

In December 2021 then-Senate president Tito Sotto urged Malacañang to certify the bill as urgent. Pro-Beijing, Duterte declined.

A Philippine MZA will blunt China’s expansionism. Other Asia-Pacific states might follow suit. Only 22 states are archipelagic. [Emphases mine]

We must do whatever the enemy doesn’t want. “A great soldier fights on his own terms,” Sun Tzu also said.

***

Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8 to 10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM). Follow me on Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/Jarius-Bondoc

June 29, 2024 @ 1:28 am.

Maliwanag, hindi “misunderstanding”…

Finally, a call for government to take the bull by the horns, deal boldly and decisively with China’s unprovoked attacks on our supply and repair missions to BSP Sierra Madre, among their other disgraceful depredations in our EEZ. It’s worth noting that FVR’s DILG Sec Raffy Alunan does not mention America at all, as if to say, let’s not count on them. The odds are against us, yes, but it’s about self-respect and national dignity.

The Philippines is under attack

By Rafael Alunan III

THE China Coast Guard mauled our Navy SEALs last week, who were sent in harm’s way with their hands tied. That prevented them from retaliating to “avoid escalation.” Salamabit, elite operators who are taught to fight and win, were humiliated in the process! It will embolden China all the more to escalate its attacks that have already injured our personnel and damaged our assets in our EEZ since last year. That happened alongside the BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin Shoal. It had no protective cordon. What’s to prevent China from seizing the ship the next time around? It can be easily overpowered.

Will new rules of engagement be issued? Will a joint force be dispatched to protect our ship and shoal? Will our boys be able to defend themselves when attacked again by life-threatening weapons? Will we call for continuous maritime exercises in the area with allied forces? Will we replace the Sierra Madre, preferably with a larger one in good shape, and declare it as an EDCA base? Will we move forcefully to neutralize its POGOs, criminal syndicates, pre-positioned fifth columns and local collaborators? When will its maritime forces illegally occupying our EEZ and territorial waters be finally ejected?

The ROE should be crystal clear: Defend when attacked. Declare a 12-mile exclusion zone. If the Chinese breach it, fire warning shots to deter it. If they come closer, disable the threatening vessels. If they return fire, destroy the targets. But I worry about the fundamentals like OPSEC, strategy, doctrines, plans, communication, coordination, real-time situational awareness, decisiveness, intestinal fortitude, and crisis management. I hope this is taken constructively — our most potent weapon, the brain, is underused. We’re outthought, which is why we’re easily outmaneuvered and outfought. Our soldiers and the nation don’t deserve this.

The Chinese are gloating on their social media. “The conflict at Ren’ai Reef (Ayungin Shoal) on June 17 was a humiliation for the Philippine monkeys. The monkeys are a regular army belonging to the Philippine Navy Special Operations Group, NAVSOG. Their Instagram account calls themselves the Philippine Navy SEALs. This time, facing the Chinese Coast Guard, that is, the Chinese police force, they actually had their boats breached, their guns confiscated, and their boats seized. And seals? They are not even sea dogs.”

Let’s be clear. It’s the Chinese alone who are escalating the creeping invasion of our homeland, the occupation of our EEZ, and its attacks on our men and vessels with impunity because we choose to just stand by and show restraint. The world already knows who the aggressor is but is wondering why we haven’t moved to stop China’s humiliating abuses. We occupy the moral high ground to defend ourselves. Enough is enough. And, by the way, there’s no point in sticking to a “one China” policy when it doesn’t respect our sovereignty and sovereign rights. Bilateral relations are reciprocal, not a one-way street.

In August 2016, Chito Sta. Romana and I joined former President V. Fidel Ramos to help “break the ice” with China shortly after the favorable arbitral ruling was handed down. As the years passed, China’s treatment of the Philippines went downhill, from feigned friendship to patronizing to condescending to coercing to harming. It’s been dribbling the ball on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea because it’s seen as running counter to its “core interest” to be the next superpower. It demands from us subservience and foolish restraint while it keeps tightening its grip. It’s time to show some teeth.

Two days after China’s law to confront and arrest trespassers came into effect on June 15, our Navy SEALs were mauled right beside the Sierra Madre. Our naïve attempts to demonstrate peaceful intentions have had no effect on China. It has successfully blurred red lines and gray zones that we’ve been slow to comprehend. The gray zone in the West Philippine Sea, especially around Ayungin, Sabina and Panatag Shoals, now has a much darker hue. China appears intent on maintaining an escalatory path because it believes that we’re likely to just gawk and protest like monkeys, nothing more.

Apart from dispatching a joint force to protect the Sierra Madre, the president should order the immediate upgrading of all existing military infrastructure and war-fighting assets. Cybersecurity and anti-espionage must ramp up. We’re badly infiltrated and compromised. China knows what we’re thinking, saying and planning. Hot transfers of vital networks, systems and equipment should be obtained from friendly countries. The National Security Council (NSC) and Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) must be commanded to sustain legal and funding support. We’ve run out of time. We’re at the fail-safe point, and we must get ready to defend even if the odds are against us. It’s about self-respect and national dignity.

Here are other inputs for consideration:
1. Sanitize our communities, agencies and institutions of enemy agents.
2. Upgrade the Human Security Act and all laws linked to it to global standards.
3. Legislate a War Powers Act to enable the chief executive to fully protect the country.
4. Set up an Emergency Broadcasting System.
5. Stockpile essential commodities like food, medicines, tools, spare parts, etc.
6. Firm up civil defense for the safety, security and survival of our communities.
7. Redeploy OFWs from China, Hong Kong and Macau to other countries and here at home.
8. Downgrade diplomatic relations.
9. Ban tourist travel to Chinese territories.
10. Expand local defense-related manufacturing and services.

China has triggered so much anger and distrust that there’s no hope for normalization at this point. It’s been waging war for years that has reshaped the nature of warfare to gain a strategic advantage over the West. In our case, it’s because we occupy strategic real estate and refuse to bow to its ill will. It’s time to grab the bull by the horns. Politics must take a back seat to national security and defense. Our national interest must come first. Countries whose interests converge with ours are allies. However, allies should be seen as force multipliers, not as the country’s main defenders. That responsibility is ours. [Emphasis mine]

Rafael M. Alunan III served in President Fidel V. Ramos’ Cabinet as Secretary of the Interior and Local Government. He is a trustee of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations.

May 31, 2024 @ 12:09 am.

Alice in POGOland

It bears pointing out that (1) there were no POGOs before Duterte’s term, and (2) there seem to be no POGOs in Mindanao, bakit kaya.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) started processing licenses for POGOs to shore up its revenue stream in September 2016. Philippine offshore gaming operators began their operations in November 2016.

NCR hosts a large number of POGOs in cities such as Makati, Pasay, Manila, Las Piñas, Mandaluyong, Parañaque, and Quezon City.

Also, regions outside Metro Manila cater to POGOs, including Regions III, IV-A, and VII.

FAST FORWARD to 2020. At a Senate hearing, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) bared its records of POGO transactions from 2017 to 2019.

… based on our records, the total flow of funds is approximately PhP54 billion only, combining inflows and outflows. If we deduct outflows from inflows, the net inflow is only approximately PhP7 billion. Comparing this to our PhP18.6 trillion economy, the PhP54 billion represents only 0.29%, and if we use the net inflow of PhP7 billion, this represents only 0.04% of the economy.

Also, that P14 billion of the P54 billion was linked to “suspicious activities”:

…about P138 million in Pogo transactions were linked to drug trafficking.

The other “suspicious” amounts were related to violations of the electronic commerce law (P4.9 billion), lack of legal or trade obligations (P4 billion), deviations from clients’ profiles (P2.4 billion), funds not commensurate to the business or personal capacity of a client (P2.2 billion), lack of proper identification of a client (P231 million), and fraud (P121 million).

FAST FORWARD to 2024 and the very curious case of Alice Guo, a very wealthy smalltown mayor with direct links to China and suspected of involvement in money laundering and other criminal POGO operations. She denies it all, of course, and insists she’s legit, a Filipino citizen who grew up on a farm altho she doesn’t remember or know much of her family or childhood or schooling, leading many to think her documents are fake and she’s an illegal Chinese migrant if not a spy.

Read “Bamban’s Mysterious Mayor” by John Berthelsen of Asia Sentinel.

… the reason for the mystery may lie in a raid by authorities on property that she was linked to – Hongsheng Gaming Technology Incorporated and Zun Yuan Technology Incorporated. Hongsheng was raided in February 2023 and was replaced by Zun Yuan in the same location. It was then again raided in March 2024 for charges of alleged human trafficking and serious illegal detention. In them, police found a vast online casino, called a Philippine Offshore Gambling Operator, or POGO, which catered to online gamblers in China, and rescued nearly 700 workers, including 202 Chinese nationals and 73 other foreigners who were forced to pose as online lovers.

Similar facilities have been found in Cambodia and Myanmar, estimated to employ as many as 75,000 to 250,000 people, many against their will, and run by organized crime figures, mostly Chinese. They have increasingly been chased out of Cambodia and the border regions between China and Myanmar as Chinese Supreme Leader Xi Jinping, angered by the lawlessness, exploitation, and damage to China’s reputation, has ordered them closed.

In Alice Guo’s case, there is a more disturbing concern. Two of the incorporators of Guo’s company Baofu Land Development, the compound where the Pogo firms were located, are Chinese national Zhang Ruijin, who was convicted in April for money laundering in Singapore, and Lin Baoying, who carries a Dominican passport and is also facing charges in Singapore. Guo is also listed as an incorporator in the company, along with Filipino national Rachel Joan Malonzo Carreon and Cypriot national Zhiyang Huang.

… Guo denied knowing about her partners’ background, telling lawmakers today (May 22) that she had only learned about their criminal records through social media posts by a lawmaker the day before by checking them out on the Internet.

Although Guo was found to have owned half of the land under the POGO, housed in long rows of buildings just behind her office, she told lawmakers she sold the property, which according to videos on local TV contained a grocery, warehouse, swimming pool, and even a wine cellar. As with the property, Guo says she sold her helicopter and Ford Expedition registered under her name long ago. She told lawmakers that she was “not a coddler, not a protector of POGOs.” She hasn’t commented on the spying allegations and has largely avoided media interviews since her appearance at the Senate last week and this week.

Read too Manolo Quezon‘s “What’s Guo-ing on”.

For years now I’ve been suggesting that the political interests and thus, activities, of the People’s Republic of China should not be confused with the political and social clout of Pogos who exist in defiance of the Chinese government. The Pogos are, arguably, stronger: Beijing’s requests verging on orders, to Manila, for a crackdown on Pogos never resulted in anything more than cosmetic “busy-busihan” as money talks and Pogos have lavished funds on our upper, middle, and political classes; and since all politics is local, the easygoing spending of Pogos makes them more valuable than presidential patronage or foreign affairs. Investigations so far have been racist in their lazy assumptions and breezy unwillingness to take into account the messy state of the documentation of many Filipinos, the different subgroups among Chinese Filipinos, and differences between Pogos’ and Beijing’s efforts to influence officialdom.

Then again, knowing that China can be quite “devious” (ika nga ni Defense Sec Gibo), it wouldn’t surprise if POGOs turned out to be of a piece with the would-be superpower’s long-term master plan. About time we shut them down.