Southeast Asian nations have quietly begun to row back on a deadline of forming an "economic community" by 2015, confirming what many economists and diplomats have suspected for years as the diverse group hits tough obstacles to closer union.
Rather than referring to the end of 2015 as a firm goal, officials at this year's first summit of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), whose 10 members range from glitzy Singapore to impoverished Myanmar, prefer to call it a "milestone" to be built on in years ahead.
In so doing, they are bowing to the reality of slow progress and even some regression on politically sensitive goals, such as eliminating non-tariff barriers and lowering obstacles to the free flow of labor in the diverse region of 600 million people.
While failure to meet the ambitious goal, which was brought forward from 2020 originally, is no surprise, it risks undermining ASEAN's credibility at a time when it faces unprecedented divisions over maritime disputes with China.
"Essentially ASEAN's community-building is an ongoing process that will continue even after our 2015 milestones," Brunei Prime Minister and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah told a summit-concluding news conference on Thursday.
He acknowledged "challenges due to the varying levels of development amongst us".
The summit's final communique contained no specific commitment to the 2015 goal, saying that leaders had agreed to "leverage upon ongoing work to establish the AEC", or ASEAN Economic Community.
The problems raise doubts over whether the group, whose renowned "consensus" approach is designed to protect national interests but also slows decision-making, can bridge yawning economic gaps between richer nations like Malaysia and newer, poorer members such as Myanmar and Laos.
"They are a long way off," says Jayant Menon, a senior economist at the Asian Development Bank in Manila, referring to the "Mekong" nations of Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam.
"This kind of exercise - highly ambitious, short time-lines - simply works to fracture the organization further."
Founded in 1967 in the midst of Cold War conflicts, insurgencies and coups in Southeast Asia, ASEAN has become the region's most successful grouping, credited with preventing strife and promoting a surge in trade and investment.
But critics say it appears to be reaching the limits of its integration unless its decision-making and institutional powers are strengthened. The ASEAN Secretariat in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, has fewer than 1 percent of the staff numbers at the European Commission, a reflection of governments' reluctance to cede sovereignty.
"I think nobody will say that," Philippine President Benigno Aquino told reporters earlier in the oil kingdom of Brunei, where the summit was held this week, when asked if the 2015 goal was now impossible, adding there was much work to be done.
His trade minister, Gregory Domingo, said non-tariff barriers remained the thorniest problem, suggesting that the pace of reform was being dictated by the slowest-moving members.
"We are liberalizing on our own, but our liberalization has to be in sync with others. Otherwise, if we liberalize too fast ahead of others, it will be to our disadvantage."
Complex and unpredictable import standards in some countries - such as the number of bananas required in a bunch - were holding up the liberalization of agriculture trade, he said.
Signs that the AEC was not going according to plan emerged last September at a meeting in Cambodia when a top official said its completion may be delayed to the end of 2015 rather than the beginning.
Tough steps
Investors and multinational executives are eager for ASEAN to accelerate its integration to give them better access to a big, youthful population and rapidly growing middle class at a time when Southeast Asia is a rare bright spot in the global economy.
But many voice disappointment that progress in harmonizing regulations has not kept pace with the rhetoric and with businesses' own efforts to treat Southeast Asia as one market.
"Frankly, today you're either local or foreign in most countries; there's no in between when it comes to regulations," Nazir Razak, the chief executive of Malaysia's CIMB bank told Reuters in an interview in February. "It's time we give substance to what ASEAN means, what it means to be ASEAN."
ASEAN has made strong progress in some areas, reducing nearly all import tariffs among the wealthier six members to zero, for example, as it moves towards its goal of becoming a free-trade zone.
Overall, it says it has implemented 77.5 percent of AEC measures, up from 74.5 percent last October. But economists say the remaining 20 percent or so of steps are the tough ones, and that many agreed by ASEAN still face the hurdle of domestic ratification.
While formal tariffs have come down, other barriers to trade remain formidable, such as government protection for sensitive industries and sectors.
Malaysia, for example, has been reluctant to liberalize auto trade barriers for fear of competition from regional car-manufacturing powerhouse Thailand. The Philippines has kept in place heavy restrictions on foreign investors that critics say are aimed at shielding domestic businesses from competition.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest economy, has taken a protectionist turn over the past year by capping foreign ownership of mines and introducing a 20 percent export tax on metal ores in an effort to boost its industry.
Domestic political pressures have limited steps to liberalize worker migration within ASEAN to a handful of professions.
As ASEAN plods along, it risks being overtaken by more nimble moves as Asian countries strike more favorable free-trade deals with countries globally, adding complexity to a so-called noodle soup of regional agreements.
Several ASEAN countries are aiming to join the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes the United States.
"This is pulling in different directions," said the ADB's Menon. "I don't know how this is all going to work out."-GMA News (April 26, 2013)
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) has appointed all 5 members of the United Nations Tribunal that will hear the territorial case filed by the Philippines against China over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
The members of the United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) are:
1. Judge Chris Pinto (Sri Lanka), President
2. Judge Rüdiger Wolfrum (Germany), Member, current ITLOS Judge
3. Judge Stanislaw Pawlak (Poland), Member, current ITLOS Judge
4. Judge Jean-Pierre Cot (France), Member, current ITLOS Judge
5. Judge Alfred Soons (The Netherlands), Member
Pinto earlier appointed Pawlak to the Tribunal while the Philippines nominated Wolfrum when it filed the case before ITLOS.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said the Philippines was informed of the update through a letter submitted by Pinto to Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza on Wednesdday, April 24.
On January 22, the Philippines decided to elevate the territorial dispute over the West Philippine Sea to Annex VII arbitration under the UNCLOS as the standoff between the Philippine Navy and Chinese fishing vessels that entered Scarborough Shoal continues a year since it began.
The government wants the tribunal to declare China's 9-Dash claim as "invalid" and "unlawful."
The development comes as heads of state at the 22nd ASEAN Summit discussed the possibility of adopting a Code of Conduct for the West Philippine Sea that will minimize the risk of conflict between claimant nations in the area.-Rappler (April 25, 2013)
The Philippines is determined to challenge China's territorial claims in the South China Sea before a U.N. arbitral tribunal, in a clear rebuff to Beijing's pleas to keep their dispute a bilateral issue, according to Philippine officials.
A Philippine diplomat, speaking amid a summit in Brunei of leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, told Kyodo News that his government will pursue the case "all the way."
"Our position is very clear (on that)," the diplomat added.
In January, Manila initiated arbitral proceedings under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, to clarify the country's maritime entitlements in the disputed South China Sea.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino said Manila wants to get something in writing, be it a treaty or an agreement, which spells out clearly how rival claimants to the South China Sea should behave.
"What we are after is (clarification)," Aquino said. "This is a process, an avenue open for all of us to finally come up with something that is definitive (like) what are your entitlements, what are your obligations, and then have a permanence of clarity, and not something that they can take back."
"With clarity, you behave with each other (correctly) as opposed to differing interpretations or what constitutes correct behavior," he said.
"There is no turning back," said another Philippine diplomat regarding his government's resolve to bring the territorial disputes with China to an arbitral tribunal under UNCLOS.
"Diplomacy is an option, but you cannot talk to another if the other party can't be trusted in the first place, or if that party insists on a certain set of rules that will not work for us," he said.
China has "firmly opposed" the Philippine decision, insisting the territorial dispute is a bilateral matter that should be resolved by the two countries.
To Beijing, the Philippines' latest move is "a completely political provocation under the disguise of legal procedures," said a document China circulated among some ASEAN members.
"The crux of the current problem is the Philippines' attempt to make its provocative moves 'legal' through 'abuse of process' against China, and to gain sympathy and moral support from the international community," the document says.
It warns that the "Philippines' acts will seriously undermine efforts to properly handle and resolve relevant issues." It did not elaborate. "The international community needs to be clear-minded about this."
"The Philippines' submission to arbitration against China at this point has created obstacles for negotiated settlement of disputes between the two sides," the paper says. "Such move violates the agreement reached between China and the Philippines on resolving disputes through bilateral negotiations."
The paper stresses the need for ASEAN "to take the right position on this matter" and urges the Philippines "to correct its mistake."
China has also accused the Philippines of violating the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, or DOC, which ASEAN and China inked in 2002.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario disagrees, saying the Philippine arbitral initiative will benefit all parties.
He said the U.N. process will clearly define maritime entitlements of both the Philippines and China under UNCLOS like fishing rights, rights to resources and rights to enforce sea laws within each country's exclusive economic zone.
"For ASEAN and the rest of the global community, the clarification of maritime entitlements under UNCLOS would assure peace, security, stability and freedom of navigation in the region," he said.
The Philippines' desire to have a legally binding code of conduct aimed at reducing conflicts in the South China Sea has not changed, said Del Rosario, adding Manila will continue to work with ASEAN and China in crafting such a code and in implementing its commitments under the DOC.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said, "The course that the Philippines has chosen, in our view, is consistent with the DOC, consistent with the ASEAN-China process."
The DOC, he said, "recognizes the need to exercise self-restraint in terms of actions at sea, recognizes the need to solve problems through diplomatic negotiations and by respecting international law."
However, Natalegawa stressed the need "to ensure a great deal of transparency and sharing of information, so whatever the rationale behind it, is not seen to be inimical, is not seen to be unfriendly towards anyone."
Asked whether the step taken by the Philippines will further delay the start of the talks, Natalegawa said, "I think it's too early to say that."
ASEAN is eager to commence formal talks with China on hammering out a code of conduct, but an ASEAN diplomat claims Beijing is "temporizing" the talks.
Indeed, the China paper calls the move by the Philippines "a totally irresponsible act that has severely undermined the atmosphere for China and ASEAN to start consultation process."
"Should the Philippines be allowed to have its way," the paper warns "the spirit and principles of the DOC will face a grave challenge, the start of the COC will be severely disrupted, and efforts made by countries in the region over the years to uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea will be instantly ruined."-ABS-CBN News (April 25, 2013)
President Benigno Aquino III and Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung have agreed to further enhance the cooperation of the two countries.
The two leaders held a bilateral meeting at the sidelines of the 22nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit held in Brunei Darussalam, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said.
He said that Aquino and Nguyen were upbeat over "the progress of economic relations" between the two countries as they agreed to "further enhance" and strengthen relations.
He added that Vietnam expressed support for the Philippines initiatives on maritime security, noting the improvement of this initiative between the two countries.
"Both leaders are happy with the progress of economic relations and discussed ways on how to further enhance these relations. Both countries acknowledged the improvement of maritime security between the two countries and Vietnam expressed support for the Philippines international initiatives on this matter," Lacierda said.
Diplomatic relations between the two sides started in July 1976 upon the signing of a Joint Communiqué by then Philippine Foreign Minister Carlos P. Romulo and Vietnamese Vice Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs Phan Hien.-Sun Star (April 25, 2013)
Southeast Asian leaders on Thursday, April 25, called for urgent talks with China to ensure that increasingly tense territorial disputes over the South China Sea did not escalate into violence.
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) wrapped up a two-day summit in Brunei with a chairman's statement in which they emphasized the importance of "peace, stability and maritime security in the region."
Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the host of the talks, told reporters after the summit that the leaders wanted to "urgently work on a code of conduct" with China aimed at defusing tensions in the strategically vital body of water.
"We have agreed on what I see as a two-step approach. Firstly, the overlapping claims are for the claimant states to deal with. Secondly, both ASEAN and China wish to promote a calm and peaceful atmosphere and to urgently work on the Code of Conduct," Bolkiah said in a press conference after the summit.
"We would like all parties concerned to seize the current positive momentum and to reach an agreement on the Code of Conduct. And we all agree to encourage continuing discussion, dialogue, and consultation in all levels especially among claimant countries and to keep the lines of communication open," he added.
The other key focus at the summit was pushing forward plans to create a single market for Southeast Asia and its 600 million people -- known as the ASEAN Economic Community -- by 2015.
However the flashpoint South China Sea issue dominated the meeting, amid growing concern among some Southeast Asian countries over China's increasing aggression in laying claim to the waters.
China says it has sovereign rights to nearly all of the South China Sea, which is believed to sit atop huge deposits of oil and gas. It is also home to some of the world's busiest shipping lanes and richest fishing grounds.
ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, as well as Taiwan, also claim parts of the sea.
The competing claims have for decades made the area one of Asia's potential powder kegs for military conflict. China and Vietnam fought battles in 1974 and 1988 for control of islands that left dozens of soldiers dead.
Tensions have risen again in recent years as China has used increasingly aggressive diplomatic and military tactics to assert its authority.
Among the actions that have caused alarm were China's occupation of a shoal close to the Philippines' main island last year, and the deployment last month of Chinese naval ships to within 80 kilometers (50 miles) of Malaysia's coast.
ASEAN endured unprecedented infighting last year as the Philippines and Vietnam failed to persuade the bloc to send a united message of concern to China.
Cambodia, a close China ally that held the rotating chair of ASEAN in 2012, blocked the efforts of the Philippines and Vietnam.
Road to nowhere?
Southeast Asian leaders said this week's summit had successfully led to a regained sense of unity within ASEAN on the issue, with Philippine President Benigno Aquino praising his Brunei host for deft diplomacy that helped build a consensus.
"Everybody is interested in having a peaceful resolution and also in voicing... concern that there have been increasing disputes," Aquino told reporters.
Nevertheless, analysts said ASEAN's calls for China to agree on a legally binding code of conduct for the sea would likely lead nowhere.
ASEAN and China first agreed to work on a code in 2002, but the Asian superpower has since refused to discuss it further.
"China was never enthusiastic about a code of conduct, as it does not want to sign an agreement that will constrain its sovereignty-building activities," Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, told AFP.
However Aquino said he was happy that ASEAN leaders had at least united in trying to ensure the disputes over the South China Sea did not "become bloody".
"So there is unity of purpose and one can always be hopeful that that will lead to something more concrete," he said.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said ASEAN foreign ministers would hold talks with China on the issue during a scheduled event in Beijing later in the year.
But officials gave no indication of whether there could be any meetings before then.
Bolkiah and other Southeast Asian leaders said progress had been made this week on the ASEAN Economic Community, and more than three-quarters of its framework had been agreed upon.
But they also cautioned the hardest phases of the negotiations had just begun. - Rappler (April 25, 2013)
The ASEAN leaders took note of and expressed satisfaction at the progress towards setting up an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015, according to the Chairman's statement of the 22nd ASEAN Summit Thursday.
The two-day summit under the theme "Our People, Our Future Together" opened at the Prime Minister's Office here Wednesday, where leaders of the 10 member states gathered to review and deliberate on the economic integration efforts, and a host of regional and international issues of common concern.
According to the statement, 259 measures, or 77.54 percent of the AEC Blueprint, have been implemented as of now.
The leaders agreed to enhance ASEAN's competitiveness by better facilitating trade and investment, leveraging upon on-going work to establish the AEC. They also recommended rolling out a roadmap to set out initiatives to ease the way of doing business and address investment impediments in the region.
Official statistics show that since the adoption of the Blueprint in November 2007, per capita income in the region has risen from $2,267 to $3,759 dollars in 2012.
The total trade of the 10-nation bloc grew by 16.8 percent, from $2.05 trillion in 2010 to $2.4 trillion in 2011, as intra-ASEAN trade reached $598 billion from $520 billion, an increase of 15.1 percent year-on-year.
The ASEAN region has also continued to attract foreign investors, generating a record foreign direct investment inflow of $114 billion in 2011, a 23 percent rise from 2010.
Established in 1967, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.-China Daily (April 26, 2013)
A protest by villagers evicted from land near a Chinese-backed mine was violently quelled by police Thursday, activists said, in an echo of a crackdown at the flashpoint site last year.
Farmers attempting to plow land seized to make way for the mine clashed with police protecting the site, according to Ba Htoo, an environmental activist speaking to AFP from the scene in Monywa, central Myanmar.
"About 200 police asked the villagers -- who went to farmland in the copper mine area -- to stop... police said the area was restricted.
"There were some clashes between the police and villagers," he said, adding one villager was shot and more than two dozen others hurt by police batons.
It was unclear if the police used real or rubber bullets.
A monk who is an activist in a village near the Letpadaung mine confirmed villagers were injured -- although he was not at the scene -- explaining some farmers who refused compensation went to reclaim their land.
"They tried to farm the land with their cows and carts. The police stopped them and there were clashes," the monk, called Nandasarya, told AFP, adding at least one villager received gunshot wounds.
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has urged villagers in the area to accept compensation for their land, following a probe into a brutal crackdown on protest at the mine last year.
The Nobel laureate, who is normally venerated around the country, was in March heckled by villagers enraged by her recommendation that the copper mine continue to operate, despite concerns over its environmental impact and land grabbing.
Suu Kyi's report to parliament last month said police used phosphorus against demonstrators at the mine in November in the harshest crackdown on protesters since the end of military rule.
However, the probe into the clampdown, which left dozens wounded including monks, recommended the mine project should not be scrapped, despite conceding it only brought "slight" benefits to the nation.
Since decades of brutal junta rule ended two years ago, Myanmar has seen protests against land grabbing as disgruntled rural people test the boundaries of their freedom to demonstrate under a reform-minded government.-GMA News (April 26, 2013)
The Philippines has grabbed the spotlight amid a lackluster global economy, with a think tank describing it as a “rising star” poised to record one of the fastest growth rates in the world and a credit-rating firm raising its growth forecast for the country.
Moody’s Analytics said in a report released Wednesday that the Philippines is likely to grow between 6.5 and 7 percent this year and within the same range next year, outperforming not only the anemic advanced economies but also many robustly growing emerging markets.
It also said that if favorable economic trends continue, the growth rate for the Philippines could be close to 8 percent by 2016.
“The Philippines has been among the brightest parts of a generally gloomy global picture,” Moody’s Analytics said in the report, titled “Philippines Outlook: Asia’s Rising Star” and authored by its senior economist Glenn Levine.
It said the story of the Philippines was noteworthy, noting that the country swung from being a “perennial underachiever” in Asia until the last few years.
Moody’s Analytics, a sister company of credit rating watchdog Moody’s Investor Service, said the country’s 6.6-percent growth in 2012 was achieved despite weak growth in the United States, a crisis in the eurozone and a slowdown in China.
It said the problems of the United States, the eurozone and China— key export markets—significantly dampened the performance of other economies last year.
Sustainable growth
The Philippines, however, managed to temper the drag of a weak external environment because of a strong household consumption, a nascent rise in private investments and a spike in government spending.
S&P’s rosy forecast
“This impressive rate of GDP [gross domestic product] growth [last year] looks sustainable, as risks are low and most sectors of the economy are growing solidly. We expect GDP growth to remain in the 6.5 to 7-percent range in 2013 and 2014, making the Philippines one of the world’s fastest-growing economies,” Moody’s Analytics said.
Echoing a similar tune, international credit-rating firm Standard & Poor’s has raised its growth forecast for the Philippines for this year from 5.9 to 6.5 percent. At the same time, it said the economy was expected to post another robust growth of 6.3 percent in 2014.
S&P’s updated growth projections for the Philippines were cited in its latest report on Asia, which it said would grow by a decent pace this year and next year as a region. But, it said, the impact of external factors on individual countries would vary.
Domestic demand strong
The credit rating agency said the advantage of the Philippines—together with a few neighbors namely China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam—was that domestic demand was strong and so any adverse impact of weak global demand on the country’s exports would not significantly harm its overall growth.
“China and the Asean 5—Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam—are more domestically driven and, therefore, continue to enjoy relatively high and stable growth rates. This is not the case elsewhere,” S&P said in the report, titled “Emerging Asia Will Grow but Won’t Be Firing on All
Cylinders.”
S&P also said that unlike other countries, the Philippines and the rest of the Asean 5 were not expected to suffer from the weakening yen, a trend that has alarmed advanced economies and some Asian economies.
Weakening yen
This was because the Philippines and the four other Southeast Asian economies were net importers of goods from Japan. A weakening yen, therefore, would actually be beneficial as this would make Japanese imports cheaper.
Anticorruption agenda
Moody’s Analytics, meanwhile, highlighted the benefits of the anticorruption agenda of the Aquino administration.
It said the reform programs of the current administration had significantly improved business sentiment in the Philippines.
“The government’s 2011-2016 development plan provides a five-year blueprint for growth and development, providing transparency, predictability and accountability. The crackdown on corruption and encouragement of local and foreign investments, in particular, have worked well,” it said.-Philippine Daily Inquirer (April 25, 2013)
Hundreds of cases of Malaysian election violence have been reported since campaigning for tightly-contested May 5 polls got under way during the weekend, police were quoted saying on Wednesday.
A total of 387 incidents were reported in the first three days of the two-week campaign, which kicked off Saturday, and at least 15 people have been arrested over the violence, national police spokesman Ramli Yoosuf told The Star newspaper.
"They were in possession of weapons of such as machetes and suspected of slashing rival party supporters and criminal intimidation, mostly while putting up flags and banners," Ramli said.
The pro-government newspaper gave no indication of who was perpetrating the violence, but the opposition has complained that their supporters were the victims in most attacks. AFP has been unable to confirm that.
Malaysia is bracing for long-anticipated elections that have raised speculation of the country's first change of regime since independence from Britain in 1957.
The vote pits a coalition dominated by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) which has ruled Malaysia for 56 years, against an upstart opposition promising a more liberalised society.
The independent group Bersih, which advocates clean elections, has warned that the contest could be marred by political violence and intimidation.
Ramli said the cases included individuals who attempted to run down rival political supporters in cars, adding that one election operations centre in a northern state was set on fire, but giving no other details.
No deaths have yet been reported, but Malaysian media last week reported a man was left in a coma after a beating by ruling party supporters in the north of the country. The man was later reported to have regained consciousness.-Channel News Asia (April 25, 2013)
By exercising restraint in dealing with issues including China’s maritime incursions, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has kept its cohesion and preserved good relations among members, according to the Philippine representative to the regional bloc.
“The members of ASEAN, they exercise restraint, they look for peaceful ways to settle their bilateral problems,” Philippine Ambassador to ASEAN Elizabeth Buensuceso said in an interview here on Tuesday.
“Very recently, our relations with Malaysia – despite the volatility of the situation or the possibility that it might erupt into something worse, it did not, because there is ASEAN,” she said, apparently referring to Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram’s sending of armed supporters to Lahad Datu in Sabah to press his claim on the territory.
“You saw the conflict between Thailand and Cambodia – without ASEAN there would have been war. And this, for me, is a very important achievement of ASEAN,” she said.
The Philippines has chosen not to bring up the Sabah issue during the summit here. President Aquino has also not arranged bilateral meetings with other leaders.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will be represented by Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang, Malaysia’s Senate president.
Foreign Affairs spokesperson Raul Hernandez said the Sabah issue is considered a bilateral one “so this will not go to the meetings of ASEAN.”
Hernandez squelched speculation that the issue was deliberately being avoided.
“I think it’s more because of the short period of this summit. People are busy and this is actually a very short summit and not like the one that we had last November. So I think this is more of the time consideration that has been put in place,” he said.
While ASEAN had tackled border problems between Thailand and Cambodia, Myanmar and the state of the Rohingya, Hernandez said “it would also depend on the chairman which areas and which items would they consider to be part of the agenda of the summit.”
Hernandez said Brunei Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah did not discuss the Sabah issue with Aquino during his state visit to the Philippines last week.
Malaysian forces are still hunting remnants of Kiram’s armed followers in Lahad Datu. Malaysia had been accused of using excessive force in flushing out Kiram’s followers. The Kirams had also asked for help from Brunei.
The President earlier ordered a study on the country’s Sabah claim even as he stressed that the issue must be resolved peacefully. Thousands of Filipinos have been displaced because of the violence and the Philippine government has expressed fears that relations with Malaysia may be affected.
Kuala Lumpur is brokering the peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The two sides signed a framework agreement in October last year, an event witnessed by Razak himself at Malacañang.-The Philippine Star (April 25, 2013)
It's the first of two annual summits that ASEAN leaders attend each year and this time, they will be meeting in Brunei on 24 and 25 April.
Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, together with Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, will be at the two-day meeting.
Observers expect the South China Sea issue and achieving the 2015 ASEAN Economic Community target to top the leaders' agenda.
The South China Sea territorial issue has threatened ASEAN's unity and credibility. Cambodia, a China ally, refused to have the issue mentioned in a post-ministerial statement when it hosted the meetings last year.
That drew protests from Vietnam and the Philippines, and ASEAN ended up not issuing an after-conference communique for the first time in the bloc's 45-year history.
China, Taiwan and ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam have overlapping claims across the South China Sea, which Beijing claims in its entirety.
Observers say as host and chair this year, Brunei has the ability to be neutral.
Chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, Associate Professor Simon Tay, said: "The internal demand is really, how do these four claimants to the South China Sea, the ASEAN members, relate to the non- claimants?
"Will they drag the whole group to their point of view or does the group have to be more neutral. The fundamental difference between last year and this year is the Chinese domestic politics, the change of leader at the very top, but also through a lot of other factors including the role of the PLA (People's Liberation Army)...these are factors which are still at play, and this coming summit may be early for China to really show its full hand."
On the ASEAN Community 2015 target, observers say the grouping is moving in the right direction.
Co-director of the Asia Competitiveness Institute, Associate Professor Tan Khee Giap, said: "ASEAN should have done more and we know that ASEAN members don't trade with one another a lot except Indonesia and Singapore and Singapore and Malaysia.
"The regional environment has changed. ASEAN should rightfully treat all the major economic powers equal handedly, welcome investments, regulate our markets, make it more competitive, by hosting the major investors whether it is the American, the Chinese, the Japanese; it can't be a bad thing, it is only good for us...more than 10-15 years (after the 1997 financial crisis), ASEAN is ready and poised for higher growth. We must put our act together."
Singapore's Foreign Affairs Ministry says that during the Brunei summit, the leaders will also take stock of the implementation of the ASEAN Charter and discuss ASEAN's role in the regional architecture.-Channel News Asia (April 23, 2013)
The European Parliament has recently adopted a resolution approving a report which included its support to the Philippines’ initiative to seek arbitration to settle a territorial dispute with China.
A statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs said the report, which was approved March 14, underscored the need to settle the dispute over the South China Sea.
In the report, te Parliament said it "is alarmed at the escalating tension and therefore urgently appeals to all parties involved to refrain from unilateral political and military actions, to tone down statements and to settle their conflicting territorial claims in the South China Seas by means of international arbitration in accordance with international law, in particular the UN Convetion on the Law of the Sea, in order to ensure regional stability."
The report, prepared by the Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs on European Union-China relations, likewise called on China to "commit itself to observing the UN Charter and international law in pursuit of its goals abroad."
"The European Parliament's resolution is a milestone in the efforts of our country to generate awareness and support for our arbitration efforts," said Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario.
“The recourse to arbitration is firmly rooted in the tradition of good global citizenship. We are strongly committed to seeing this arbitration through and there should be no doubts about our resolve to clarify our maritime entitlements in the West Philippine Sea peacefully and in accordance with the rule of law,” Del Rosario added.
The European Parliament represents the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world with some 375 million eligible voters in 2009.
Similarly, a United States Senate resolution on the peaceful settlement of disputes in the West Philippine Sea was likewise unanimously passed in 2012.
Beijing has consistently refused to discuss the territorial row under any arrangement save bilateral negotiations between the Philippines and China.
Zhang Hua, Deputy Chief of Political Section and Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy, said the "disputes on South China Sea should be settled by parties concerned through negotiations."
"This (settlement of disputes through negotiations) is also the consensus reached by parties concerned in the DOC (The Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea)," Zhang has said.-The Philippine Star (April 23, 2013)
Japan would respond with force if any attempt is made to land on disputed islands, PM Shinzo Abe has warned.
His comments came as eight Chinese government ships sailed near East China Sea islands that both nations claim.
A flotilla of 10 fishing boats carrying Japanese activists was also reported to be in the area, as well as the Japanese coastguard.
Mr Abe was speaking in parliament hours after dozens of lawmakers visited a controversial war-linked shrine.
A total of 168 lawmakers paid their respects at the Yasukuni Shrine, which commemorates Japan's war dead, including war criminals, in a move likely to anger regional neighbours who say the shrine is a reminder of Japan's military past.
'Deal strongly'
The warning from the Japanese prime minister was the most explicit to China since Mr Abe took power in December, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports from Tokyo.
Asked in parliament what he would do if Chinese ships tried to land on the disputed islands, Mr Abe said they would be expelled by force.
"Since it has become the Abe government, we have made sure that if there is an instance where there is an intrusion into our territory or it seems that there could be landing on the islands then we will deal will it strongly," he said.
The warning came as eight Chinese ships sailed around the islands - called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.
The Japanese coast guard said it was the highest number of Chinese boats in the area since Tokyo nationalised part of the island chain in September 2012.
China said its ships had been monitoring Japanese vessels. The State Oceanic Administration issued a statement saying three of its ships had "found" several Japanese ships around the islands and "immediately ordered another five ships in the East China Sea to meet the three ships".
Ten Japanese boats carrying around 80 activists arrived in the area early on Tuesday, Reuters news agency reported, monitored by Japanese Coast Guard vessels. Public broadcaster NHK said the boats were carrying "regional lawmakers and members of the foreign media".
Japan's top government spokesman said the "intrusion into territorial waters" was "extremely regrettable". Japan also summoned the Chinese ambassador to protest, reports said.
The territorial row has been rumbling for years but was reignited last year when Japan bought three of the islands from their private Japanese owner.
China claims the island chain, which is controlled by Japan. Taiwan also claims the islands, which offer rich fishing grounds and lie in a strategically important area.
he dispute has led to serious diplomatic tension between China and Japan, most recently in January when Japan said a Chinese frigate locked weapons-controlling radar on one of its navy ships near the islands - something China disputes.
'Backlash'
The visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday by lawmakers marking the spring festival is also likely to hit ties between Beijing and Tokyo.
Two cabinet ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, visited the shrine on Sunday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not visit but made a ritual offering.
South Korea subsequently cancelled a proposed visit by its foreign minister, while China lodged "solemn representations" in response to the ministers' visit.
"Only when Japan faces up to its aggressive past can it embrace the future and develop friendly relations with its Asian neighbours," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday.
But Japanese lawmaker Hidehisa Otsujji said it was "natural" for "lawmakers to worship at a shrine for people who died for the nation".
"Every nation does this. I don't understand why we get a backlash," he said.-British Broadcasting Corporation (April 23, 2013)
When the Ciliwung River breached its banks in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, in January, Abdul Majid rushed to move his family and belongings upstairs.
"When I knew the flood was going to be large, I moved all of my merchandise to the roof of the building to avoid losing it all again," said the 50-year-old Majid, who runs a small kiosk on the ground flood of his home. In 2007, the last time the capital of some 10 million residents experienced massive flooding, he lost all his merchandise. "I had to use all of my savings and borrow money to buy new goods," he said.
His prospects for moving to less vulnerable sections of the city are limited. So, like many residents of the city, he makes do, finding ways to limit his liability and hoping the river will be merciful.
Fewer deaths, more costs
Indonesia is one of the world's most vulnerable countries to natural disasters, but its risks are shifting: Here, as elsewhere in the world, fewer people are dying from floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, even as the economic toll from these disasters is growing.
Preparedness and emergency response to natural disasters have improved worldwide, but equivalent measures to protect economies have lagged, according to Maplecroft, a UK-based consulting firm that publishes an annual Natural Hazards Risk Atlas that assesses countries' exposure and resilience to natural disasters.
According to Maplecroft, 2012 was the least deadly year for natural disasters in the past decade. Yet estimated damages from natural disasters rose from an average of US$20 billion per year in the 1990s to around $100 billion per year between 2000 and 2010, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
"This upward trend is expected to continue as a result of the rising concentration of people living in areas more exposed to natural disasters and climate change," noted IMF.
Asia will be the hardest hit, with nine of the 10 cities expected to be most prone to coastal flooding by 2070 located there, according to a 2010 World Bank report.
The region has already experienced a steep economic toll from natural disasters in recent years. In 2011, losses in Asia and the Pacific amounted to $294 billion - 80 percent of the global total of $366 billion - according to the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction's Asia-Pacific Disaster Report for 2012. The cost of disaster-related damage in Asia and the Pacific increased 16 times since 1980, while the GDP per capita only grew 13 times over the same period.
In 2012, Samoa, Haiti, Fiji, Pakistan, Madagascar and the Philippines topped the list of countries with the greatest natural hazards-related losses as a percentage of their GDP, according to the Brussels-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters.
Risk compounded
Although communities in Jakarta have adapted to these risks through painful but practical measures - like habitually sacrificing their ground floors to flood waters - the city's increasing exposure to natural disasters will likely overwhelm residents in flood-prone areas.
With 13 rivers flowing into the city, Jakarta is naturally prone to flooding. Additionally, as sea levels are rising, Jakarta is actually sinking 3.5cm per year, according to Sutopo Nugroho, a spokesman for National Agency for Disaster Management (BNBP). Some 40 percent of Jakarta now lies below sea level, according to BNPB, making it easier for rainwater to pool rather than drain into rivers or the sea. Officials estimated that the January floods caused at least $700 million in damage and lost economic activity.
Obstacles to change
Despite their long-term economic benefits, structural changes to the overcrowded megacity have been difficult to implement.
One of the main methods to ease Jakarta's exposure to property damage is widening the rivers that pass through the city. However, this has only been attempted on a limited basis, said Nugroho.
Some 34,000 families live on the sections of the Ciliwung riverbank that should be dredged, he said. The government has proposed resettling them in government-provided apartment complexes, but a plan has yet to be executed.
The project will involve large costs to the city and is likely to meet resistance from riverside communities, said Nugroho. "There are many instances of people not agreeing to relocate, and I think we will have the same problem with people living along the Ciliwung. Their lives and work are based around where they are currently."
The government's growing investment in mitigation - efforts to lessen the risk of devastation from natural disaster - is a step forward, said Aris Marfai from the Faculty of Geography at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, some 550km east of Jakarta.
Disasters in the past decade - including multiple earthquakes, with death tolls in the thousands, and the 2004 tsunami, which killed some 170,000 people in the country - have taught the government to re-conceptualize disaster management, he said.
"Before, the focus was on relief. [It was] mostly reactive," he said. "But now the government and aid groups are paying more attention to mitigation and preparedness measures."
The government's disaster risk reduction (DRR) investments have doubled from less than 0.6 percent of the total budget in 2006 to more than one percent by 2012, according to the UN.
Risks outpace investment
But even this increased investment is outpaced by growing risks, say observers. Surface water runoff has rapidly increased because of deforestation and construction, which is removing organic materials that naturally absorb rainfall, thus increasing flood risks.
The increasing speed with which runoff from the nearby upland city of Bogor reaches Jakarta - a measure of how much less water is absorbed by the soil - shows that the city is growing more vulnerable, said Marco Kusamawijaya, founder of the Jakarta-based Rujak Centre for Urban Studies.
"Runoff from Bogor used to be discussed in terms of days. Now it's discussed in terms of hours," he said. "For over 100 years, the focus has only been on increasing [Jakarta's] drainage capacity and not on trying to reduce surface runoff."
Reducing surface runoff, in part caused by over-construction, is difficult because solutions require regulating growth, which is often seen as constraining growth, said Kusamawijaya.
"Politically, the solutions aren't easy."-Asia Sentinel (April 23, 2013)
\Some businesses in Singapore are preparing for a manpower shortage when their Malaysian staff go on leave to vote in the upcoming election.
The firms told Channel NewsAsia that they are changing work schedules and hiring temporary staff to tide them through this period.
About 400,000 Malaysians are in Singapore, according to the World Bank.
One fishball factory says it will stop production of frozen fishballs from May 1.
Instead, it is diverting its available staff to the fresh fishball production line.
The factory's cost of production has also been affected, as it will require its non-Malaysian staff to work over the weekend and will have to pay them double.
As for spa giant CitiSpa, it is anticipating between 10 and 15 per cent shortage of staff during the election period.
CitiSpa says about half of its staff are Malaysians.
CitiSpa CEO, Gerald Teo, said: "We have made arrangements for other workers to cover their duties. These are the locals and workers from other nationalities. In addition, we will have to do some internal transfer among the workers, to ensure there are enough workers at the various branches."
Mr Teo said CitiSpa is also rescheduling the appointments of some of its customers.
But one restaurant, Dragon Phoenix in Clarke Quay, says it is well prepared to cope with the staff shortage, by hiring part-timers.-Channel News Asia (April 23, 2013)
The Department of National Defense is in “the final stages” of crafting the Terms of Reference for the acquisition of a squadron of F/A 50 fighter jets from South Korea, the department said Monday.
The Terms of Reference includes technical specifications, payment schemes, and requirements for delivery. “After that, the contract follows, the negotiations for the contract [starts],” said Department spokesman Peter Paul Galvez.
In a separate interview, DND undersecretary for finance, munitions, installations and materiel Fernando Manalo said said that the Department hopes to settle any issues about the acquisition by May.
“There are issues that are being resolved, there are issues that are being clarified,” he said.
In January, the DND announced that the Government Procurement Policy Board has given the nod for it to begin negotiations with South Korea for the acquisition of 12 brand new F-50 jets for about P18 billion.
The Philippine Air Force said that it was “very excited” with the impending acquisition as part of the military’s modernization program, saying it would bring the Philippine closer to having a “credible external defense.”
The PAF had been using its S-211 trainer planes as fighters after it decommissioned its F-5s in 2005.-GMA News (April 23, 2013)
The European Union has lifted the last of its trade, economic and individual sanctions against Burma in response to its political reform programme.
The sanctions were temporarily lifted last year, and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi agreed Burma's progress merited the move being made permanent.
An EU foreign ministers' meeting said an arms embargo would stay in place.
It warned Burma needed to address "significant challenges", particular regarding its minority Muslims.
Human rights groups say the lifting of sanctions reduces the leverage the EU has on Burma, with Human Rights Watch's Asia head Phil Robertson describing the move as "premature and regrettable".
It came shortly after the BBC obtained police video showing officers standing by while Buddhist rioters attacked minority Muslims in the Burmese town of Meiktila. It was filmed last month, when at least 43 people were killed in Meiktila.
'It is time'
An EU statement, approved without a vote and issued at a foreign ministers' meeting in Luxembourg, said: "In response to the changes that have taken place and in the expectation that they will continue, the Council (of ministers) has decided to lift all sanctions with the exception of the embargo on arms."
The decision came in response to political reforms implemented by President Thein Sein, who came to power after elections in November 2010. His administration has freed many political prisoners and relaxed censorship.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Burma's political progress was substantial enough and serious enough for the temporary lifting of sanctions to be made permanent.
But he told the BBC: "The work of the EU in Burma is not remotely finished. It is important to continue working on improving human rights, on improving the humanitarian situation, in helping the Burmese to address issues of ethnic violence, particularly attacks on Muslim communities."
Aung San Suu Kyi, who for years supported the sanctions against the country's military rulers, backed the EU's decision, telling the BBC the democracy movement could not depend on sanctions forever.
"It is time we let these sanctions go," she said. "I don't want to rely on external factors forever to bring about national reconciliation which is the key to progress in our country."
Ms Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest for many years, leads a pro-democracy opposition which has a small presence in parliament.
Mass graves?
Violence between Buddhists and Muslims erupted in another part of Burma, Rakhine state, last year following the rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman in May.
Clashes in June and October resulted in the deaths of about 200 people. Thousands of people, mainly members of the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority, fled their homes and remain displaced.
On Monday, the New York-based organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) presented a report containing what it said was clear evidence of government complicity in ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity against Muslims in Rakhine state.
It said security forces had either stood aside or joined in when mobs attacked Muslim communities in nine townships, razing villages and killing residents.
It said HRW had discovered four mass grave sites in Rakhine state, which it said security forces had used to destroy evidence of the crimes.
However, the allegations were rejected by Win Myaing, a government spokesman for Rakhine state, AP news agency reported.
HRW investigators didn't "understand the situation on the ground," he said, adding that the government had no prior knowledge of the impending attacks, and had deployed forces to quell the unrest.-British Broadcasting Company (April 23, 2013)
Taiwan's coastguards said Monday that Taipei had staged a live-fire drill within a hotly-contested island chain in the South China Sea, in a move that risks stoking regional tensions.
More than 2,000 rounds of ammunition were fired by garrison forces on Taiwan-administered Taiping, the largest of the Spratly Islands, Wang Chin-wang, chief of the Coast Guard Administration, told parliament.
It was Taipei's first live-fire drill in the Spratlys - claimed in whole or part by Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei - since long-range mortars and artillery were shifted to Taiping Island in August last year.
The exercise took place in the middle of the April, Wang said.
Taiwanese legislator Lin Yu-fang, who sits on the bench of parliament's defence and diplomacy committee, asked Wang to disregard possible reaction from other claimants.
"Taiping Island is part of our territory. You just did what you should do. You've done a good job," Lin said.
Wang said the live rounds included 40 millimetre artillery shells and 120 millimetre mortars, which were transported to the island last year causing Vietnam to express its anger over the new, longer-range weapons.
All claimants to the Spratlys, apart from Brunei, have troops based on the archipelago of more than 100 islets, reefs and atolls, which cover a vast area but have a total land mass of less than five square kilometers.
The potentially resource-rich sea, home to important trade routes, is a potential military flashpoint and there have been a string of diplomatic rows between countries with overlapping territorial claims in recent years.
The Philippines and Vietnam have complained that China is becoming increasingly aggressive in its actions in the area - such as harassing fishermen - and also through bullying diplomatic tactics.-Interaksyon (April 23, 2013)
China has established a national island surveillance and monitoring system and completed airborne remote-sensing surveillance of what it claims to be its 4,406 islands, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR).
The national system is mainly built on aerial surveillance, with satellites, unmanned planes, and cruisers as auxiliary instruments, the MLR said in its annual land resources report issued Saturday.
Since a national plan on island protection and exploration came into effect in last April, south China's Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong provinces, and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have passed their own provincial-level scheme, with Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Hainan completing their draft plan, the ministry said.
Last year, China completed an island name survey, including on-site investigation on part of the atolls in the three island groups known as Sansha in the South China Sea which covers the disputed island groups of Spratlys, Paracels, and Macclesfield. The Philippines and Vietnam also claim sovereignty over these islands.
The country also released the standard names and geographical coordinates of the Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islands in the East China Sea, as well as other geographical entities in their surrounding waters last year, according to the MLR report. China Diaoyu is also being claimed by Japan.-Interaksyon (April 21, 2013)
Singapore warmly welcomes Japan's participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Sunday.
Singapore is confident that Japan will be a valuable partner in the development of a high quality agreement to spur economic growth across the Asia-Pacific region, it added.
Singapore has consistently and strongly expressed support for Japan's early participation in the TPP.
MFA said Japan has long played a crucial role in the development of the Asia Pacific and thus maintaining its stability.
As the world's third largest economy, Japan's inclusion has further raised the strategic and economic significance of the TPP and reinforced the agreement's strategic vision of advancing regional economic integration and promoting regional development and stability.
MFA added that Japan's membership in the TPP will also encourage Japan's domestic growth and help its overall economic revitalisation.
Singapore also looks forward to Japan participating as soon as possible and contributing to the negotiations.
With Japan's inclusion, the TPP's membership has expanded to 12 countries representing nearly 40 per cent of the global economy and one-third of world trade.
The TPP is envisioned as an inclusive agreement that will lead to an eventual Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific.
MFA said that Singapore welcomes all countries in the region that will contribute to the TPP's objective of advancing regional economic integration.-Channel News Asia (April 21, 2013)
