BusinessWorld
April 25, 2021 | 7:54 pm
Reporter
THE SOUTH China Sea is a major fish source for the Philippines that is crucial to its food security, political analysts said on Sunday, belying President Rodrigo R. Duterteâs claim that it couldnât quarrel with China over fish.
Chinaâs unregulated fishing activities in the disputed waterway, where the Southeast Asian nation gets 27% of its fish catch, threatens the livelihood of thousands of Filipino fishermen, said Sheena A. Valenzuela, a national security analyst at the Ateneo De Manila University Policy Center in Manila.
âItâs resources are crucial to the food security of Filipinos, contributing to coastal livelihoods and export trade,â she said in an e-mail. Chinaâs illegal fishing activities âcould also lead to the loss in livelihood of about 627,000 Filipino fishermen.â
On November 16, a number of U.S. lawmakers, including Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, urging him to “address the alarming deterioration in human rights protection and democratic rule in Cambodia” by imposing sanctions on senior government and security officials.
This was only the most recent congressional request for action. The Gardner-Markey Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018 imposed human rights and democracy-related conditions on U.S. assistance to Cambodia. The Cambodia Democracy Act of 2019 sought to freeze assets of and restrict visas for Hun Sen’s senior officials. During the Trump administration, these requests have found purchase, with the White House condemning Hun Sen’s crackdowns and curtailing some aid programs.