Published on: Wednesday, May 12, 2021
By: PNA, AFP, Tempo Indonesia
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Duterte reviews the honour guard during the 120th Philippine navy anniversary celebration in 2018. (EPA-EFE)
MANILA: President Rodrigo Duterte rejected speculations that he backed out of a debate with retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio because he is afraid of the former magistrate.
Duterte said he opted out of the debate over concerns that his statements “might bind future actions of government” in relation to the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in the South China Sea.
Japan, the US and France begun their first-ever joint military drills in the region on Tuesday, with Indonesia holding their own sea exercises with China just days earlier.
Japan launches first joint military drill with United States, France
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Last Updated: May 11, 2021, 02:35 PM IST
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Synopsis The drill is no doubt a deterrent to China s increasingly aggressive behaviour in the region, Takashi Kawakami, head of the Institute of World Studies at Takushoku University, told AFP.
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In this Sunday, Aug. 18, 2013, file photo, a Japanese Coast Guard boat and vessel sail alongside Japanese activists fishing boat, not in photo, warning the activists away from a group of disputed islands called Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu by China
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Japanese, US and French troops kicked off their first-ever joint military drill Tuesday in southwestern Japan, as concerns rise over China s growing assertiveness in the region.
Japan begins first joint military drill with U.S., France May 12 06:00 am JST May 12 | 06:51 am JST TOKYO
Japanese, U.S. and French troops kicked off their first-ever joint military drill Tuesday in southwestern Japan, as concerns rise over China s growing assertiveness in the region.
An Australian naval ship is also taking part in the week-long air, land and sea exercises involving 300 ground troops from the three countries.
It comes as Tokyo looks to deepen defense ties beyond its key U.S. ally and with eyes on Beijing s moves in the East and South China seas. The drill is no doubt a deterrent to China s increasingly aggressive behavior in the region, Takashi Kawakami, head of the Institute of World Studies at Takushoku University, told AFP.
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As the Biden presidency crosses the symbolic 100-day threshold, China’s predations across the Indo-Pacific are growing almost daily. In the South China Sea, over 200 Chinese fishing vessels refused to leave Philippine waters for weeks in a transparent effort to press Beijing’s sovereignty claims there. Chinese aircraft are regularly setting records for the scale of their encroachment into Taiwanese airspace. A new, Chinese-produced map doubles down on the country’s claim to the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands. And Beijing’s appetite for economic pressure tactics, extending to goods as diverse as Australian wine and Taiwanese pineapples, shows no sign of abating.