The Philippines is to upgrade outposts in waters off its coast and acquire more ships, its military chief said yesterday, as the nation seeks to push back against China’s growing assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea.
Manila and Beijing have a long history of maritime territorial disputes in the waterway, but relations have sharply deteriorated over a series of incidents involving vessels from both nations.
Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner said the nation would develop “the islands and other features” it held.
Photo: Reuters
The Philippines has outposts on nine reefs and islands in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) in the South China Sea.
Brawner said Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) would be among those where facilities would be improved with the installation of desalination machines and communications equipment.
“We are just trying to make it more liveable, more habitable for our soldiers because they really have poor living conditions,” he told reporters.
However, the plan does not include “fortifying the Sierra Madre,” Brawner said, referring to a crumbling World War II-vintage ship grounded on Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) by the Philippine Navy in 1999 to assert the nation’s territorial claims.
The Philippines would also acquire “more ships, more aircraft, radars,” Brawner said, as part of a modest modernization program that began more than a decade ago.
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea and has ignored an international tribunal ruling that its assertions have no legal basis. China this month held military drills in the South China Sea as the US and the Philippines conducted their own joint exercises in the same waters.
The Philippine Congress has earmarked 800 million pesos (US$14.3 million) for the transportation department to build a port facility on Nanshan Island (馬歡島) where boats, including those for fishing, could seek shelter.
Another 1.5 billion pesos has been allocated for the expansion of the airstrip on Thitu Island, Philippine House of Representatives Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Luis Campos said on Sunday.
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ALL-IN-ONE: A company in Tainan and another in New Taipei City offer tours to China during which Taiwanese can apply for a Chinese ID card, the source said The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday. The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing
STAY WARM: Sixty-three nontraumatic incidents of OHCA were reported on Feb. 1, the most for a single day this year, the National Fire Agency said A total of 415 cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) occurred this month as of Saturday, data from the National Fire Agency showed as doctors advised people to stay warm amid cold weather, particularly people with cardiovascular disease. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a low temperature warning nationwide except for Penghu County, anticipating sustained lows of 10°C or a dip to below 6°C in Nantou, Yilan, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as areas north of Yunlin County. The coldest temperature recorded in flat areas of Taiwan proper yesterday morning was 6.4°C in New Taipei City’s Shiding District (石碇). Sixty-three nontraumatic OHCA
COMMITTED: Lai said that Taiwan deeply appreciated the leaders’ statement, adding that the nation would remain steadfast in working to advance regional peace and prosperity US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait in a joint statement issued after they met in Washington for their first official meeting. Trump and Ishiba “affirmed their determination to pursue a new golden age for US-Japan relations that upholds a free and open Indo-Pacific and brings peace and prosperity to a violent and disorderly world,” the US-Japan Joint Leaders’ Statement said. “The two leaders emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element of security and prosperity for the
RSS