China illegally invading the West Philippine Sea's islands and violates UNLCOS International Law

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) shows the light Blue Dotted line as 200 Nautical Mile Economic Zone for the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Blue dotted line includes most part of the Kalayaan Island Group (Spratly) of the Philippines. UNCLOS did not show any China’s territory in the West Philippines Sea. The Philippines recorded already 6 invasion by china to the West Philippine Sea As of June 3, 2011.

China on Tuesday (June 7, 2011) hit back at the Philippines' accusation of an "increasing presence and activities of Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea and the South China Sea" as being "unacceptable" and asked Manila to stop harming China's maritime rights and interests.

"Chinese vessels were cruising and carrying out scientific studies in waters under Philippines's jurisdiction, and their activities are violations of the UNLCOS and China is violating the International Law of Sea.

For the side of the Philippines, the West Philippine Sea’s UNLOS 200 Nautical Mile Exclusive Economic Zone is not under China’s jurisdiction and must have to ask a formal approval from the Philippine Government before conducting any research within the Philippine waters.  Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei words only means that they are now claiming the Philippine waters as under their jurisdiction and they violated the UNLOS 200 Nautical Mile Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines.

Beijing said its position on the South China Sea is consistent and clear-cut and is in accordance with the international law showing that they disobey the UNLCOS and must be punishable and must be penalize by escalating tension and illegally invading Philippine Waters. .

The Philippines said Saturday that China's move to dispatch vessels to "disputed areas" of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) "hampers the normal and legitimate fishing activities of the Filipino fishermen" and "undermines the peace and stability of the region," according to AFP.

Filipino Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin claimed on Tuesday that the US had a stake in the stability, security and freedom of the world's second-busiest sea lane.

"The US presence is a deterrence to any unlawful activity in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea)," Reuters quoted Gazmin as saying to reporters.

The US has forward bases in East Asia and its carrier battle groups have also been making regular visits to the Philippines, where it used to maintain two huge bases until 1992.

Speaking at the 10th Asia-Europe Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Hungary, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Monday that any attempt to complicate the situation would be in nobody's interests. He disregarded the accusation of the Philippines considering the Philippines is just a very small country and its just nothing for them if they will invade the Philippine waters.

Yang said the situation in the South China Sea is stable which is opposite of the fact when the shot-out Filipino Fishermen in the sea of Palawan, and hiding their plan of slowly taking over the Spratlys of the Philippines Waters.

China’s interest to spratlys of the west Philippine Sea is towering even though it is not part of their territory because it is ranked to the 4^th among the largest Oil and Gas deposit in the world in line with Kuwait and UAE.

China is hesitant to make a move if the US presence is within the region because they could not bully the small countries like Vietnam and Philippines as the US will mediate them. China Said: It is wrong for countries in the region to try and use Washington's power to counter Beijing as China will not make any concessions on its sovereignty, Zhuang Guotu, director of the Center for Southeast Asia Studies at Xiamen University, told the Global Times."Only dialogue and consultation among relevant countries in the South China Sea can bring peace and stability in the region," he added.

Hong reiterated on Tuesday that China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters. A clear word that regardless of the UNCLOS and the international laws, China is not scared to violate it.

Hong's remarks came in response to an anti-China demonstration in Hanoi to demand that China stay out of waters claimed by Vietnam.

He urged Vietnam to make earnest efforts to how appropriately handle maritime issues and maintain stability in the South China Sea.

 

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New Philippines digital plan to highlight National Information & Communications Technology ICT Month

The celebration of National ICT Month is mandated under Presidential Proclamation No. 1521 (Series of 2008), declaring every month of June as National ICT Month.

The month-long celebration features events and activities organized by government and the private sector.

For its part, the CICT, together with various industry associations, will be holding the National ICT Summit, which will feature the official launch of the Philippine Digital Strategy (PDS) 2011-2016 and the launch of a limited edition Commemorative Stamp marking National ICT Month 2011.

Another major event is the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the establishment of the National Computer Center (NCC), a component agency of the CICT.

Several milestones have been achieved for the ICT sector, many of these bringing prestige to the country. According to “the Global Location Trends 2010 Report” of IBM Global Business Services, the Philippines is now the world leader in terms of jobs for shared services and business process and outsourcing (BPO) services.

The IT-BPO industry, through the Business Processing Association of the Philippines, has provided more than 525,000 jobs as of December 2010, about 79,000 new jobs created representing an increase of about 24 percent from the previous year.

The increase in employment for this industry can also be attributed to the success of the Next Wave Cities initiative, a program which develops cities as alternative destinations for BPO investments.

Cities such as Davao, Iloilo, Bacolod and Sta. Rosa, Laguna are now in the roster of preferred IT-BPO locations, due to the success of this program.

A significant activity this June is the launch of the Philippine Digital Strategy on the theme “Transformation 2.0: A Digitally Empowered Nation.”

The Philippine Digital Strategy 2011-2016 aims to contribute to the Aquino administration’s “Social Contract with the Filipino People”, mainly by leveraging the use of ICT for national development.

The PDS identifies four strategic thrusts, namely: 1) transparent government and efficient services delivery, 2) Internet opportunities for all, 3) investing in people: digital literacy for all, and 4) ICT industry and business innovation for national development.

The strategy presents a renewed vision for ICT and its importance in transforming Philippine society into a competitive force in the global digital economy by the year 2016.

The PDS is also aligned with the principles and thrusts of the ASEAN Information and Communications Technology Masterplan (AIM) 2015, which was adopted in January 2011. AIM 2015 was developed to serve as a guiding document to advance ASEAN regional ICT cooperation.

 

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