Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




SUPERPOWERS
Philippines urges ASEAN to unite on sea dispute
by Staff Writers
Manila (AFP) Nov 15, 2012


Philippine President Benigno Aquino urged Southeast Asian countries Thursday to present a united front to China over the South China Sea at an upcoming regional summit.

Aquino said all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations should speak with one voice at the East Asia summit in Cambodia next week.

"We can talk to the other claimants that aren't ASEAN members but since we want to maintain ASEAN's centrality, we must have just one voice in ASEAN... in this regard," he told reporters.

He noted that ASEAN included four countries with some overlapping claims to islands and waters in the South China Sea -- the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam. Non-members China and Taiwan also have their own claims.

ASEAN also includes Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand.

China insists it has sovereign rights to nearly all of the South China Sea despite the competing claims of the four ASEAN members to parts of the waters.

In July a regional ministerial meeting in Phnom Penh ended in disarray over the issue.

ASEAN chair Cambodia, a close China ally, refused to allow Vietnam and the Philippines to mention specific disputes with China over the sea, preventing the group from issuing a joint communique for the first time in its 45-year history.

Aquino said he hoped other countries outside of ASEAN realised it was necessary to maintain stability in the South China Sea for the region's growth to continue.

Tensions over the sea have risen in recent months, with Beijing becoming embroiled in diplomatic rows with Manila and Hanoi.

Japan wants 'mutually beneficial' relations with new China
Tokyo (AFP) Nov 15, 2012 - Japan said Thursday it wants to develop "mutually beneficial" relations with China's new leaders, as the two countries remain embroiled in a dispute over islands in the East China Sea.

The sovereignty row is affecting the huge trade ties between the region's two biggest economies and shows little sign of being resolved.

Relations between the two capitals are some of the "most important... for Japan and China and for the whole world", said the foreign ministry's deputy press secretary Naoko Saiki.

"We really hope that the mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests will be further developed and enhanced with the new leadership" of China, she said.

Saiki was speaking hours after China's all-powerful Communist Party unveiled a new seven-man leadership council steered by Xi Jinping to take command of the world's number two economy for the next decade.

Xi told party apparatchiks gathered in Beijing's Great Hall of the People he would fight official corruption and build a "better life" for the nation's 1.3 billion people.

Relations between China and Japan are often volatile, in part as a result of their bloody history.

Beijing says Tokyo has failed to atone for its brutal expansionism and occupation in the 1930s and 1940s, while Japan maintains it is time to move on from events more than six decades ago.

The pair have a huge trade relationship, worth well in excess of $300 billion a year. China is Japan's single biggest trading partner despite a number of intractable sticking points.

The long-rumbling row over who owns the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku islands, which Beijing claims under the name Diaoyus, flared again in September when Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda nationalised three of them.

Noda wanted to avert the purchase of the outcrops by the fiercely-nationalist then-Tokyo mayor Shintaro Ishihara.

The prime minister had calculated that Ishihara's plan to develop the rocks was inflammatory, and he hoped to take the heat out of the row.

But Beijing reacted with fury, allowing large and sometimes violent street protests in cities across the country that left some Japanese businesses in ruins.

A Chinese consumer boycott of Japan-brand goods has left the likes of auto giant Nissan licking its wounds and forecasting a large drop in sales in the world's largest car market.

Chinese state-run ships have since been sent to waters around the islands, where they have faced off against Japan's well-equipped coastguard fleet.

The confrontations have so far been limited to radio exchanges, with both sides warning the other to leave their territorial waters.

But commentators say the situation could escalate quickly if either side makes a mistake.

.


Related Links
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








SUPERPOWERS
Conservative tinge in new China leadership: analysts
Beijing (AFP) Nov 15, 2012
China's Xi Jinping hinted at a more open style Thursday as he took the reins of the Communist Party, but conservatives on his leadership team could limit his scope for reform, analysts said. In a speech that introduced China's new leader to his country and the world, Xi indicated a desire to improve relations with the international community which has grown concerned by Beijing's growing eco ... read more


SUPERPOWERS
China's Chang'e-3 to land on moon next year

Moon crater yields impact clues

Study: Moon basin formed by giant impact

NASA's LADEE Spacecraft Gets Final Science Instrument Installed

SUPERPOWERS
Rover's 'SAM' Lab Instrument Suite Tastes Soil

Survey At 'Matijevic Hill' Wrapping Up

Mars orbiter back online after system swap

What Arctic Rocks Say About Mars: An Interview with Hans Amundsen

SUPERPOWERS
SciTechTalk: All work and no play?

Get some bed rest - all 21 days of it

Latest China military hardware displayed at airshow

Obama Win Keeps NASA's Space Plans on Course

SUPERPOWERS
Mr Xi in Space

China plans manned space launch in 2013: state media

China to launch manned spacecraft

Tiangong 1 Parked And Waiting As Shenzhou 10 Mission Prep Continues

SUPERPOWERS
Russia restores space contact after cable rupture

Russia loses contact with satellites, space station

Cut in Russian link to space station not serious: NASA

Crew Prepares for Spacewalk After Progress Docks

SUPERPOWERS
Arianespace's fourth Spaceport mission with Soyuz ready for fueling

Ariane 5's sixth launch of 2012

Ariane 5 is poised for Arianespace's launch with the EUTELSAT 21B and Star One C3 satellites

Ariane 5 orbits EUTELSAT 21B and Star One C3 satellites

SUPERPOWERS
Lost in Space: Rogue Planet Spotted?

Lowell Astronomer, Collaborators Point The Way For Exoplanet Search

Lonely planet: Orphan world spotted in deep space

Discovery of a Giant Gap in the Disk of a Sun-like Star May Indicate Multiple Planets

SUPERPOWERS
Raytheon submits Space Fence proposal to the USAF

Larger version of Kindle Fire tablet unleashed

Lockheed Martin Submits Space Fence Radar Proposal to USAF to Detect and Track Orbital Objects

Chinese LED firm plans record investment in Taiwan




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement