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The United States and the Philippines have agreed to restart joint patrols in the South China Sea as the longtime allies seek to counter China's military rise, a US Defense Department statement said. The two countries had suspended maritime patrols in the hotly contested area under the rule of former president Rodrigo Duterte. During a visit to Manila by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, he and Philippine counterpart Carlito Galvez "agreed to restart joint maritime patrols in the South China Sea to help address (security) challenges", the statement said on Thursday (Feb 2).

SINGAPORE — After more than four years in power, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is still struggling to show that his country has benefited from a closer alliance with China. In a dramatic shift in the Philippines’ foreign policy, Duterte declared in 2016 the country’s “separation” from the U.S. — a military ally — and announced closer ties with China. Among other things, the president also set aside his country’s territorial dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea, in exchange for billions of dollars that China pledged in infrastructure investments. But much of that promised investment has not materialized, with...

Stretching for miles across the horizon, a vast armada of Chinese fishing boats trawl the pristine waters close to the Galapagos Islands. Ostensibly fishing squid, the real target for the 265-strong fleet are sharks to serve the appetite for expensive fin soup, costing up to £350 a bowl, sold in markets across China and Hong Kong. Night and day, the vessels – many the size of a football pitch – ransack the seabed, scooping up not only whale and hammerhead sharks but other species including turtles and birds.

Under its vocally anti-American President Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines has emerged as a focal point between China and the US in their continuing contest for dominance in the region. After years of cosier ties between Manila and Beijing, at the expense of the Philippines' traditional alliance with the US, Duterte last month appeared to signal a retreat from his anti-Washington stance by reversing an earlier decision to scrap a key military agreement with the US in June. While analysts say Duterte is unlikely to change his policy on China any time soon, the shift to reinstate the Visiting Forces Agreement...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte responded to criticisms about his unwillingness to act against Beijing over contested areas He said their ability to wage war against the communist superpower is insufficient financially and in numbers of arms and troops However, Duterte’s critics said they are not calling for war with China Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said his country could not afford to go to war against China in the South China Sea as he responded to critics of his unwillingness to act against Beijing over contested areas in the West Philippine and South China Seas. CNN Philippines reported Duterte, speaking at...

"PRESIDENT Duterte on Sunday lashed out at the U.S. police killings of black men in his latest outburst against critics of his anti-drug campaign, which has left hundreds of suspects dead. The Philippines’ brash-talking President also threatened Sunday to withdraw the country from the United Nations after its human rights experts criticized the extra-judicial killings committed under his anti-crime drive. Reacting to U.S. criticisms, Duterte cited the string of shootings involving police and black men that have sparked protests in the U.S. “Why are you Americans killing the black people there, shooting them down when they are already on the...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has recently suspended a decision that was described by analysts as one of the geopolitical shocks of the decade. In February, the President announced he would rip up the long-standing Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States, which operationalises the two countries' Mutual Defence Treaty (MDT), signed in 1951. The MDT is similar to Australia's ANZUS security pact with the US — also signed in 1951 — as an attack in the Pacific threatening either party's "territorial integrity, political independence, or security" will automatically trigger a consultation process between Manila and Washington. The cancellation of...

".....I don't think there's ever been a time in our lifetime anyway where there's more need for us to unite to be united on important matters to be supporting each other to be bringing truth to each other and protection for each other..." Ammon Bundy calling a followup citizens meeting tonight in Emmett, Idaho at 8 pm in response to Republican Governor Brad Little's order to stay at home in response to Covid-19...... Special Comment-Wartime Situation Leads To Misleading Fake News We are in a wartime situation at this point with policies being implemented and situations emerging that disturb Americans...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said Filipino forces can fight insurgents and Muslim extremists without American military help, in a defense of his recent decision to terminate a U.S. security pact. Duterte also said in a speech that he would stick to a decision made early in his presidency, when he was enraged by then-President Barack Obama’s criticism of his deadly anti-drug crackdown, that he will not travel to the United States. The brash Philippine leader has often criticized U.S. security policies while praising China and Russia since taking office in mid-2016 for a six-year term. U.S. President Donald...

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has just given us notice he will be terminating the Visiting Forces Agreement that governs U.S. military personnel in the islands. His notification starts the clock running on a six-month deadline. If no new agreement is negotiated, the VFA is dissolved. What triggered the decision? Duterte was offended that one of his political allies who led his anti-drug campaign in the islands, which involves extrajudicial killings of drug dealers, had been denied a U.S. visa. Yet, Duterte has never been an enthusiast of the U.S. presence. In 2016, he told his Chinese hosts in Beijing: "I...

President disapproves of alliance and made decision after ally’s visa was rescinded Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, has given formal notice to the US of his decision to scrap a bilateral agreement covering visiting American troops, following through on repeated threats to downgrade the defence alliance. The visiting forces agreement (VFA), signed in 1998, accords legal status to thousands of American troops rotated in the country for humanitarian assistance and military exercises, dozens of which take place annually. Duterte, who has made no secret of his grudge with the US and his disdain for his country’s close military...

The Philippines has banned two U.S. lawmakers from visiting and will introduce tighter entry restrictions for U.S. citizens should Washington enforce sanctions over the detention of a top government critic, the president's spokesman said on Friday. President Rodrigo Duterte will impose a requirement on U.S. nationals to get visas should any Philippine officials involved in the incarceration of Senator Leila de Lima be denied entry to the United States, as sought by U.S. senators Richard Durbin and Patrick Leahy. Duterte's move comes after the U.S. Congress approved a 2020 budget that contains a provision introduced by the senators against anyone...

Following Japan's proclamations that it will take over another 280 'disputed ownership' islands, it appears the increasingly dis-approved of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's path of militarism and provocation is working. As China Daily Mail reports, citing experts, China intends to take back Zhongye Island - 'illegally' occupied by the Philippines, according to the Chinese. The Chinese navy has drawn a detailed combat plan to seize the island and the battle will be restricted within the South China Sea. Philippines military is building up on the island and the Chinese see as 'intolerable' the "arrogance" relying on US support.

Chinese Territorial Assertions: The Case of the Mischief Reef China has on-going disputes with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei regarding conflicting claims of sovereignty over different islands in the Spratly group in the South China Sea, but its assertion of its claim over the Mischief Reef at the expense of the Philippines is an educative case study of how China doggedly pursues its irredentist territorial claims - by stealth, if possible, and by other means, including force, if necessary.The Spratly group consists of 12 main islands and 390 islets, banks, reefs, shoals and cays, of which only 33 permanently...

Rodrigo Duterte, the firebrand president of the Philippines, on Wednesday called on the US to send warships to defend the island nation against Chinese military aggression as part of a decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty.

President Rodrigo Duterte is “sick and tired of the system” and regrets having run for the nation’s top post, given the Philippines’ seemingly insurmountable problems. “I lost my enthusiasm to work. Actually, I deeply regretted it. I regretted my decision to run for president,” Duterte said in the vernacular on Wednesday during the oath-taking of Cagayan de Oro’s newly elected local government officials. The decision to run for president in 2016, the former Davao City mayor claimed, was spurred by his not having lost an election. “[S]ince 1988, I was rising until I became President of this republic. But if...

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday that he was once gay but “cured” himself after meeting his former wife. He made the comments during a trip to Japan where he accused his political opponent Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV of being gay, claiming that the way he moved proves that. "I said, ‘Are you sure?’ They said, ‘You ask any gay person who sees Trillanes move, they'll say he's gay,’” he said, the Filipino news organization Rappler reported. “Good thing Trillanes and I are similar. But I cured myself,” Duterte continued. “When I began a relationship with [ex wife Elizabeth] Zimmerman,...

The United States State Department is "seeing signs" of chemical weapons use by Syrian government forces in northwestern Syria. The State Department promising Tuesday that the US and allied nations will respond "quickly and appropriately" if the use of chemical weapons is proven.... Top US officials including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Joseph Dunford briefed members of Congress Tuesday about Iran.... The United Nations representative for Libya says steps need to be taken to cut off arms supplies to Libya where a government ostensibly backed by the UN is...

An attack on a church in the African nation of Burkina Faso Sunday. Six dead including the priest with the church burned down.... "It was the army that came to the rescue" the words of France's leading opposition politician Marine Le Pen in relation to the rescue of four hostages from Islamic terrorists in Burkina Faso Thursday night..... A Christian town in northern Syria rocketed by jihadists Sunday. Six were killed..... Almost a year after he was arrested live streaming outside a child sex abuse trial involving Muslim defendants summarily tried and sent off to prison British activist Tommy Robinson...

Filipinos vote on Monday in midterm polls that are being seen as a crucial referendum on Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal crackdown on illegal drugs, unorthodox style and contentious embrace of China. The poll is expected to strengthen his grip on power, opening the way for him to deliver on pledges to restore the death penalty and rewrite the constitution. Duterte has found international infamy for his foul-mouthed tirades, but remains hugely popular among Filipinos fed up with the country’s dysfunction and elite politicians. He wants to bring back capital punishment for drug-related crimes as part of a crackdown on narcotics in...