FLASHBACK: China’s Spratlys intrusions connected to Gloria Arroyo deal

 from GMAnews:

The current word war between the Philippines and China is another proof of the continuing curse of Gloria Arroyo on the Filipino people. The latest series of diplomatic protests lodged by the Philippines with China and submitted also to the United Nations have its roots to the controversial Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking entered into by the Arroyo government with China in 2004 which allowed China and later on Vietnam to explore not only the Philippine-occupied islands in the disputed mineral-rich Spratlys but areas that are clearly Philippine territory. The JMSU was signed during Gloria Arroyo’s 2004 visit to China which paved the way for the signing of at least two graft-riddled deals: North Rail and national broadband network with ZTE agreements.

Basically, Arroyo sold our territories to China for crooked deals.

More: Arroyo: I know ZTE contract tainted but can’t cancel deal

 

Duterte: America Afraid Of Going To War With China, Blames Del Rosario And Aquino Admin For Losing Scarborough

Duterte says US afraid of war vs. China, calls Del Rosario stupid

War over Scarborough 'not worth it' for the US, says Duterte

and this:

Also, he blamed the Aquino administration for doing nothing.

"Why didn't the Philippine government go there at the site with its ship and ask China 'what are you doing here? You are not supposed to build artificial islands in international seas,'" Duterte said in mixed English and Cebuano.

He also lashed out at the US. "America did not also do anything. And now that the islands are built up and military facilities are war-equipped they ask me to go there."
"If I go there to show off, we will all be crushed, and my soldiers and police forces will be massacred. So, we need to negotiate unless we decide to attack China."

Moreover, he said that if we decide to challenge China, "Who will be with me? Will America do so? It won't."

He pointed out that America has failed for years to address its problem with Iran and Iraq.

"In sum, the US has not won its war in the Middle East for years. Who won? No one. The losers are the people and most of the casualties of the war were civilians —the women, the elderly, and children. That's the truth," Duterte said.

Duterte's wrong. Blame the Obama administration for weakness against China if want. And this doesnt excuse Digong from selling out to Xi Jinping.

Who owns the Spratlys? Palace invokes pro-PHL arbitral ruling vs. China

Malacañang on Friday for the first time invoked the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration that invalidated China's historic claims over most of the South China Sea including the Philippines exclusive economic zone.

President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman Salvador Panelo made the remark after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that the Spratly Islands or Nansha, as the Chinese call them, were part of Chinese territory.

GMANews Online reports.

"China showed no unusual resistance to Vietnam’s “modest upgrades” to its facilities in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea contrary to how it responded to the Philippines’ rehabilitation efforts, analysts have observed."

Vietnam occupies 49 outposts spread across 27 features in the contested Spratly Islands, while the Philippines has 9.

“Vietnam continues quietly upgrading its facilities across the Spratlys, so far without provoking the same large-scale paramilitary response from China as Philippine upgrades have,” Washington think-tank Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative said in its latest report on the South China Sea.

From the Inquirer: Unlike PH, Vietnam’s ‘modest upgrades’ in Spratlys get no repulse from China