Aquino bares AFP buildup vs ‘bullies in our backyard’
President Aquino on Tuesday announced a $1.8-billion military upgrade to help defend the country’s maritime territory against “bullies,” amid an ever-worsening dispute with China.
President Aquino on Tuesday announced a $1.8-billion military upgrade to help defend the country’s maritime territory against “bullies,” amid an ever-worsening dispute with China.
Faced with territorial disputes and worries of external and internal threats, President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday claimed that the Philippines can fight back and defend itself within its bounds.
The Philippines is open to talks of a fisheries agreement to its neighboring countries including Taiwan, President Benigno Aquino III said Tuesday, but with a caveat.
President Aquino on Wednesday formally apologized to Taiwan for the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by Filipino Coast Guards in disputed waters off Batanes last Thursday.
Angry Taiwanese fishermen burned Filipino flags in protest Monday after the Philippine coastguard fired on a Taiwan fishing boat killing a crew member.
President Aquino on Monday appealed for calm after Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou gave the Philippines 72 hours to respond to its demands over Thursday’s killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippine Coast Guard or face the consequences.
President Aquino emerged from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit on Thursday upbeat about the prospects of a maritime code of conduct with China to minimize the risk of conflict in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
The two-day summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) opened here Wednesday night with the Philippines looking to Brunei to push for an early conclusion of talks with China on a code of conduct in the South China Sea.
If he is really one of 100 most influential people in the world as Time magazine says, then President Aquino should not hesitate to use diplomacy and mobilize the government’s resources to help the thousands of undocumented overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) facing arrest and deportation in Saudi Arabia, according to a former ambassador.
President Aquino has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of the world.
The government is skirting the Sabah conflict – a pestering issue between the Philippines and Malaysia – in next week’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ summit in Brunei, officials said on Wednesday.
President Aquino has condemned the perpetrators of what is increasingly being seen as another terror attack on the United States, and sent a personal message of sympathy to the victims of the bomb attack on the Boston Marathon as well as to the US city to which his family has a special affinity.
