Philippine president Marcos Jr. defends US military presence, which China opposes

Philippine president Marcos Jr. defends US military presence, which China opposes
Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that a larger US military presence in the country was vital to territorial defense. (Reuters)
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Updated 22 March 2023

Philippine president Marcos Jr. defends US military presence, which China opposes

Philippine president Marcos Jr. defends US military presence, which China opposes
  • US forces would be allowed to stay in western Palawan province, which faces the South China Sea
  • Philippine president: Moves were meant to boost the country’s coastal defense

MANILA: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday defended his decision to allow a larger United States military presence in the country as vital to territorial defense despite China’s fierce opposition and warning that it would “drag the Philippines into the abyss of geopolitical strife.”
The Marcos administration announced in early February that it would allow rotating batches of American forces to indefinitely stay in four more Philippine military camps in addition to five local bases earlier designated under a 2014 defense pact of the longtime treaty allies.
Marcos said without elaborating that the four new sites would be announced soon and they include areas in the northern Philippines. That location has infuriated Chinese officials because it would provide US forces a staging ground close to southern China and Taiwan.
The Biden administration has been strengthening an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China, including in any future confrontation over Taiwan. America’s moves dovetail with Philippine efforts to shore up its territorial defense amid a long-seething dispute mainly with China in the South China Sea.
Aside from the northern and southern Philippines, Marcos told a news conference without elaborating that, under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, US forces would also be allowed to stay in western Palawan province, which faces the South China Sea. He underscored that the moves were meant to boost the country’s coastal defense and added in reply to a question that opposition to the US military presence by some local Filipino officials had been overcome.
“We explained to them why it was important that we have that and why it will actually be good for their province,” Marcos said, adding most of those who had objections had come around “to support the idea of an EDCA site in their province.”
Governor Manuel Mamba of northern Cagayan province, where American forces may be allowed to stay with their weapons in up to two Philippine military camps, said Marcos has the prerogative to make the decision but he remained opposed to it. He had earlier expressed fears that allowing the Americans to base in Cagayan, which lies across a sea border from Southern China, Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait, could turn his province into a key target of the Chinese military if a conflict involving the US military breaks out over Taiwan.
“It is the president’s call, not mine,” Mamba said. “But I maintain my stand against any foreign forces stationed in my province. Still, I am against EDCA sites in my province.”
US and Philippine officials have said that American-funded construction of barracks, warehouses and other structures to be used by US forces and contractors would generate much-needed local jobs and boost the economy. The US presence would help the Philippines respond to natural disasters, enhance combat-readiness and help deter Chinese aggression in Asia.
China, however, has repeatedly accused Washington of taking steps to contain it militarily and of driving a wedge between Beijing its Asian neighbors like the Philippines.
“Creating economic opportunities and jobs through military cooperation is tantamount to quenching thirst with poison and gouging flesh to heal wounds,” the Chinese embassy in Manila said in a recent statement. “Such cooperation will seriously endanger regional peace and stability and drag the Philippines into the abyss of geopolitical strife and damage its economic development at the end of the day.”
US forces have intensified and broadened joint training, focusing on combat readiness and disaster response with Filipino troops on the nation’s western coast, which faces the South China Sea, and in its northern Luzon region across the sea from the Taiwan Strait.
Next month, the allied forces are to hold one of their largest combat exercises, called Balikatan — Tagalog for shoulder-to-shoulder — which will include live-fire drills. One planned maneuver involves US and Philippine forces firing rockets to sink a mock enemy ship in waters facing the South China Sea, the Philippine military said.
If the ship-sinking exercise proceeds as planned, it would likely draw an angry reaction from China, which claims the strategic waterway virtually in its entirety and has turned seven disputed reefs into missile-guided island bases to defend its territorial claims.


Sudan refugees strain cash-strapped Chad’s hospitality

Sudan refugees strain cash-strapped Chad’s hospitality
Updated 11 sec ago

Sudan refugees strain cash-strapped Chad’s hospitality

Sudan refugees strain cash-strapped Chad’s hospitality
  • They are among 90,000 people who have escaped to Chad since fighting broke out in Sudan in mid-April
  • Tensions have risen over water use, which is traditionally sourced from communal wells
KOUFROUN: There used to be one family in Fanna Hamit’s compound, now there are 11 families struggling to get by selling roasted crickets after she took in relatives fleeing the conflict in Sudan.
They are among 90,000 people who have escaped to Chad since fighting broke out in Sudan in mid-April — a major extra burden on one of the world’s poorest countries.
Even before this emergency, Chad was hosting 600,000 refugees from its war-torn neighbors and grappling with a fourth consecutive year of acute food shortages. Overall, around 2.3 million people are in urgent need of food aid, the World Food Programme warned earlier in May.
“The extraordinary hospitality of the Chadian government and its people has been demonstrated yet again ... but the scale of this crisis requires more funding to save lives,” UN aid agency OCHA said in a call for increased international support.
Hamit, a 58-year-old widow with six children of her own, has had to make careful economies to provide for those sheltering in her compound, most of whom arrived in this border village of Koufron with nothing.
Squeezed into the open-air compound, the women cook together over small braziers in the sand as children play around them.
“They share everything with us: their food, their toilet, their clothes and all the rest,” said 78-year-old Kaltouma Yaya Abderahmane, who pitched up at Hamit’s door in the middle of the night in late April.
The sudden arrival of large numbers of people has also distorted the market for goods and squeezed water supplies in Chad’s remote and arid borderlands.
“Let’s not even talk about sugar ... it’s doubled in price,” Hamit said, also lamenting the higher cost of grains and peanuts.
Tensions have risen over water use, which is traditionally sourced from communal wells. Some refugees at the Goungour refugee camp, south of Koufroun, told Reuters they had been barred by locals from drawing water in a nearby village and had to dig their own wells in dry riverbeds.
Hamit said she tried to help “even the refugees who have set up shelters nearby .... they come to us for water”.

“The situation is tough for everyone.”

At least 10 dead, 55 injured as bus of Hindu pilgrims falls into gorge in Indian-controlled Kashmir

At least 10 dead, 55 injured as bus of Hindu pilgrims falls into gorge in Indian-controlled Kashmir
The overloaded bus was on way to Katra from Punjab state when it fell off the highway bridge. (AP)
Updated 7 min 16 sec ago

At least 10 dead, 55 injured as bus of Hindu pilgrims falls into gorge in Indian-controlled Kashmir

At least 10 dead, 55 injured as bus of Hindu pilgrims falls into gorge in Indian-controlled Kashmir
  • The overloaded bus was on way to Katra from Punjab state when it fell off the highway bridge and into the gorge near Jammu city

SRINAGAR: A bus carrying Hindu pilgrims to a shrine in Indian-controlled Kashmir skid off a highway bridge into a Himalayan gorge Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 55, police said.
The bus was on way to Katra town from the northern state of Punjab’s Amritsar city when it fell into the gorge near Jammu city, police said.
Local police officer Chandan Kohli told reporters that the bus was overloaded. He said the dead were from India’s eastern Bihar state.
Residents and authorities rushed to the accident spot and launched a rescue operation. The injured have been hospitalized.
The shrine of Vaishno Devi in Katra is highly revered by Hindus and hundreds of thousands visit it every year.
India has some of the highest road death rates in the world, with hundreds of thousands of people killed and injured annually. Most crashes are blamed on reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and aging vehicles.


Prominent Somali politicians protest at election overhaul deal

Prominent Somali politicians protest at election overhaul deal
Somalia’s government announced an agreement on Sunday that a one-person one-vote system would be introduced in June 2024. (AFP)
Updated 37 min 20 sec ago

Prominent Somali politicians protest at election overhaul deal

Prominent Somali politicians protest at election overhaul deal
  • Somalia’s government announced an agreement on Sunday that a one-person one-vote system would be introduced in June 2024
  • Eight prominent politicians, among them former president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and four former prime ministers, issued a statement Monday objecting to the agreement

MOGADISHU: A group of leading Somali politicians denounced Monday a move to overhaul the country’s electoral system and introduce universal suffrage, charging that there was a lack of broad consultation and that some of the proposals were unconstitutional.
Somalia’s central government and four federal member states announced an agreement on Sunday that a one-person one-vote system would be introduced with local elections set for June 2024.
It followed a pledge by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in March to end the complex clan-based indirect voting system in place for more than half a century in the troubled Horn of Africa nation.
Sunday’s agreement reached at a meeting of the National Consultative Forum also calls for a single presidential ticket in which voters would choose a president and vice president, effectively quashing the post of prime minister.
The proposals still have to be approved by parliament.
But about eight prominent politicians, among them former president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and four former prime ministers, issued a statement Monday objecting to the agreement.
“We applaud efforts to get the country to a level of one-person one-vote and a multi-party system... that enforces democratic governance,” they said.
However, they charged that making a decision of such national interest “without the full representation of all federal member states, will put the unity of the people in jeopardy”, referring to the absence of Puntland’s president Said Abdullahi Deni at Sunday’s meeting.
“Making changes in the power-sharing mechanism and the governance system of the country without in-depth consultation, without consulting the public, will lead to a breakdown, a lack of confidence and the disintegration of society.”
The signatories voiced their opposition to a new electoral calendar calling for parliamentary and presidential votes in the federal states on November 30 next year, beyond the current expiry dates of some mandates.
They also objected to plans to limit to two the number of political parties able to contest elections, saying it meant that “power will be confined to a small group of people”.
Somalia is struggling to emerge from decades of conflict and chaos while battling a bloody insurgency by Al-Shabab jihadists and natural disasters including a punishing drought that has left millions facing hunger.
The country has not had one-person, one-vote elections nationwide since 1969, when the dictator Siad Barre seized power.
However, in a landmark move on Thursday, Puntland held direct elections for local councils, with Somalia’s international partners voicing hope they would inspire increased democracy across the nation.


Typhoon Mawar lashes eastern Taiwan, northern Philippines as it heads for southern Japan

Typhoon Mawar lashes eastern Taiwan, northern Philippines as it heads for southern Japan
Updated 55 min 20 sec ago

Typhoon Mawar lashes eastern Taiwan, northern Philippines as it heads for southern Japan

Typhoon Mawar lashes eastern Taiwan, northern Philippines as it heads for southern Japan
  • With waves crashing on the shoreline, residents of the Taiwanese fishing town of Yilan secure boats and homes against the stormy conditions

YILAN, Taiwan: Typhoon Mawar lashed Taiwan’s eastern coast with wind, rain and large waves Tuesday but largely skirted the island after giving a glancing blow to the northern Philippines. The storm was moving slowly toward southern Japan.
With waves crashing on the shoreline, residents of the Taiwanese fishing town of Yilan secured boats and homes against the stormy conditions.
“I will not worry. The typhoon won’t make landfall now. The typhoon will move northward from the sea in the east of Taiwan. Its strength has also weakened. And there is no wind and waves in the fishing port at present. I don’t think it will affect us,” said Wang Jian-chi, a fishing boat owner.
The coast guard said precautions were being taken, just in case.
“We have issued a high surf warning. The wind and wave are very strong. We hope that beachgoers won’t come near the beach and embankment at this moment. We will also send coast guard personnel to patrol the port to warn beachgoers,” said coast guard officer Wang Hsing-chieh as he patrolled the port with his team.
Although the slow-moving typhoon has lost some of its ferocity since smashing into Guam last week, forecasters in the Philippines said Mawar remained dangerous with maximum sustained winds of 155kph and gusts of up to 190kph.
People in the Batanes province of the Philippines prepared for bad conditions, but were largely spared.
“I’m on the roof, but I’m not being blown away by the wind,” Juliet Cataluna, a Batanes provincial official in the coastal town of Ivana, told The Associated Press by cellphone. “I wish we’ll really be spared from damages — our livelihood, our agricultural produce and our houses.”
After seeing earlier forecasts that Mawar would be stronger, townspeople in Ivana placed sandbags on their tin roofs and covered glass windows with wooden boards. Cataluna added that she wrapped her avocados with sack cloth so they would not be blown off trees.
Town leaders used motorcycles to deliver constant typhoon updates, she said, and fortunately only light rains and occasional wind gusts have hit Ivana.
The typhoon was offshore about 350 kilometers east of the Batanes capital, Basco, and is projected to shift northeast by Wednesday toward southern Japan. Strong winds were still forecast for Taiwan, and authorities in the Philippines warned against complacency, saying the risks from dangerous tidal surges, flash floods, landslides and typhoon-enhanced monsoon rains remain until Mawar has safely blown away.
More than 3,400 villagers remained in emergency shelters in northern provinces, flights to and from Batanes remained suspended, and classes have not resumed in more than 250 cities and towns in the north, according to the Office of Civil Defense.
Winds lashed nearby Cagayan province Monday, causing an unoccupied wharf warehouse to collapse and prompting more villagers to move to evacuation centers.
Mawar tore through Guam last week as the strongest typhoon to hit the US Pacific territory in over two decades, flipping cars, tearing off roofs and knocking down power.


Ukraine peace plan is only way to end Russia’s war, says Zelensky aide

Ukraine peace plan is only way to end Russia’s war, says Zelensky aide
Updated 30 May 2023

Ukraine peace plan is only way to end Russia’s war, says Zelensky aide

Ukraine peace plan is only way to end Russia’s war, says Zelensky aide
  • Ukraine sees courting Global South as top priority
  • Russia has built ties with the region during war

KYIV: Kyiv’s peace plan is the only way to end Russia’s war in Ukraine and the time for mediation efforts has passed, a top aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Chief diplomatic adviser Ihor Zhovkva told Reuters that Ukraine had no interest in a cease-fire that locks in Russian territorial gains, and wanted the implementation of its peace plan, which envisages the full withdrawal of Russian troops.
He pushed back on a flurry of peace initiatives from China, Brazil, the Vatican and South Africa in recent months.
“There cannot be a Brazilian peace plan, a Chinese peace plan, a South African peace plan when you are talking about the war in Ukraine,” Zhovkva said in an interview late on Friday.
Zelensky made a major push to court the Global South this month in response to peace moves from some of its members. He attended the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia on May 19, holding talks with host Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Iraq and other delegations.
He then flew to Japan where he met the leaders of India and Indonesia — important voices in the Global South — on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit of major economic powers in Hiroshima.
While Kyiv has staunch backing from the West in its struggle against the Kremlin, it has not won the same support from the Global South — a term denoting Latin America, Africa and much of Asia — where Russia has invested diplomatic energy for years.
Moscow has bolstered ties with Global South powers during the war in Ukraine, including by selling more of its energy to India and China.
In response to a Western embargo on seaborne Russian oil imports, Russia has been working to reroute supplies away from its traditional European markets to Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was in Nairobi on Monday hoping to nail down a trade pact with Kenya, has repeatedly traveled to Africa during the war and St. Petersburg is due to host a Russia-Africa summit this summer.
In a sign of how Ukraine is trying to challenge Russia’s diplomatic sway, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba embarked on his second wartime tour of Africa last week.
Ukraine’s Zhovkva said winning backing in the Global South was a top priority. While Ukraine focused on ties with Western partners at the invasion’s start, securing peace was a matter of concern for all countries, he said.
He played down the prospects of calls for dialogue with Russia made by Pope Francis who described Ukraine’s occupied territories as a “political problem”.
“In this period of open war, we don’t need any mediators. It’s too late for mediation,” he said.

‘Peace Summit’
Zhovkva said the reaction to Ukraine’s 10-point peace plan had been extremely positive at the G7 summit.
“Not a single formula had any concerns from the (G7) countries,” Zhovkva said.
Kyiv wanted G7 leaders to help bring as many Global South leaders as possible to a “Peace Summit” proposed by Kyiv this summer, he said, adding that the location was still being discussed.
Russia has said it is open to peace talks with Kyiv, which stalled a few months into the invasion. But it insists that any talks be based on “new realities”, meaning its declared annexation of five Ukrainian provinces it fully or partly controls — a condition Kyiv will not accept.
China, the world’s second-largest economy and Ukraine’s top trade partner before the war, has touted a 12-point vision for peace which calls for a cease-fire but does not condemn the invasion or oblige Russia to withdraw from occupied territories.
Beijing, which has close ties with Russia’s leadership, sent top envoy Li Hui to Kyiv and Moscow this month to encourage peace talks.
Zhovkva said the envoy was briefed in detail on the situation on the battlefield, at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the power grid and the transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia, which Kyiv says is a Russian war crime.
“He listened very attentively. There was no immediate response … we will see. China is a wise country which understands its role in international affairs.”