OUR MISBEGOTTEN CHINA POLICY (MORE)
CHINA’S
CAMBODIAN INVASION
By
Sam Rainsy
The
Japan Times, August 5, 2019
PARIS
– It has long been feared that Cambodia’s growing dependence on China — its
largest aid donor, investor and creditor — would lead to a Chinese military
presence in the country. According to a recent Wall Street Journal report,
those fears are now coming true.
Like a gambler reliant on a loan
shark, Cambodia has, in recent years, racked up massive, opaque debts to China,
which it cannot repay. This has given China considerable leverage, enabling it,
for example, to evade U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, by
re-routing exports to the United States through Cambodia’s Chinese-owned
Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone.
Judging
by China’s history of “debt-trap
diplomacy,” it was only a matter of time before it used its leverage over
Cambodia to strengthen its regional
military posture. According to the Wall Street Journal, the time came this
spring, when China and Cambodia secretly signed an agreement giving China
exclusive rights to a part of Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base on the Gulf of
Thailand.
Both
the Chinese and Cambodian governments deny the report, which Cambodian Prime
Minister Hun Sen called “made up” and “baseless.” But that should be no
surprise: As Hun Sen noted, hosting foreign military bases is illegal in
Cambodia, according to the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements that ended its long
civil war. Furthermore, as the U.S. Department of State has pointed out,
Cambodia has a constitutional commitment to its people to maintain a neutral
foreign policy.
For
Hun Sen, however, there is good reason to disregard this commitment: his political
survival. The Cambodian people, including the military, are fed up with the
authoritarian and corrupt leadership of the world’s longest-serving prime
minister. The regime has so far countered this resistance by cracking down on
dissent. In last year’s sham election, Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party won
every seat in the parliament, after dissolving the leading opposition party,
the Cambodia National Rescue Party (of which I am co-founder and acting
leader).
Hun
Sen knows that, as a compliant ally of China, he gains powerful protection from
hostile domestic forces. That outcome, he seems to have calculated, is worth
more than the support of the Cambodian people, many of whom resent China’s
growing commercial presence, which benefits only a corrupt elite.
Hun
Sen’s effort to buttress his regime will come at a heavy cost, and not just to
Cambodians. The Ream Naval Base will provide a convenient springboard for China
to bully or even attack nearby countries, thereby enhancing its ability to
assert its territorial claims and economic interests in the South China Sea.
China’s tightening control over routes through which one-third of the world’s
shipping passes raises obvious risks for the US and Europe.
…The
Cambodian base is particularly worrying, because it will complete a Chinese
military perimeter around mainland Southeast Asia, raising the specter of a new
“iron curtain” that leaves the entire region under China’s thumb. During the
Cold War, the “domino theory” held that if one country fell under the influence
of communism, the surrounding countries would soon follow. China — far
wealthier, shrewder and more sophisticated than the Soviet Union ever was — is
dangerously well equipped to make that a reality.
As
the military analyst Charles Edel has argued, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vanuatu all have the potential for deep-water
ports that could serve Chinese naval expansion and restrict Western access
to key parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Already, China has courted all
three countries with long-term financial-aid packages.
But
China’s dangerous expansionism is
neither inevitable nor unstoppable: it depends on compliant local regimes and
inaction on the part of the international community. In the case of Cambodia,
the international community should demand a new general election that does not
exclude real challengers. Through a credible democratic process, the Cambodian
people could replace Hun Sen’s anachronistic regime with one that respects the
rule of law and defends their interests — beginning by rejecting any deal that
allows China to entrench its military in Cambodia.
Sam
Rainsy is the co-founder and acting leader of the opposition Cambodia National
Rescue Party.
Communist
China seeks to apply the same debt-trap model to which Cambodia has fallen prey
to the Philippines in order to achieve the communist regime’s expansionist
maritime objectives.
It
is a stupid president who falls into this debt trap and brings down the entire
nation with him.
TELECOM: CHINA’S TROJAN HORSE?
TELECOM: CHINA’S TROJAN HORSE?
By:
Richard Heydarian - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 04:07 AM September 24, 2019
PLAYING
A LOSING GAME WITH CHINA
By:
Dindo Manhit - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 05:02 AM September 27, 2019
CARPIO
THANKFUL LOCSIN CLEARED UP DUTERTE GAB ON ARBITRAL RULING
By:
Dona Z. Pazzibugan, Julie M. Aurelio - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 05:00 AM September 14, 2019
‘WE
NEED SOMEONE TO FIGHT FOR US, MR. PRESIDENT’
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 05:02 AM September 04, 2019
Dear
Mr. President,
In
the third presidential debate on April 24, 2016, one of your campaign promises
was that you would ride a jet ski to the Spratly Islands while waving the
Philippine flag. You told us it had been a longtime dream of yours to be a hero
— to fight for what is ours and reclaim the land that had been unjustly taken
away from us.
That
was three years ago. Now, the statement might have been said in jest, but this
is an issue that should be taken seriously. Which is why, on behalf of the
Filipino youth, we would like to ask you a question: Where is your jet ski, Mr.
President? Where is the flag that you promised to raise on what is rightfully
ours?
The
harm that the Chinese government has inflicted on our fellow Filipinos and on
our natural resources has gone too far. They are taking our sand and our marine
life, destroying our corals and our sea.
They
have military ships that venture into our waters, ram our fishermen and leave
them to fend for themselves. Is this not enough? How much more abuse can we
take until you come to the aid of your people? What does this say about the
worth of our country?
We
are confident that you have the best interests of our nation at heart. But the
question is, how are these interests best served? By permitting our country to
be exploited and allowing China to violate our sovereign rights? Or by fighting
for what is rightfully ours, according to the Hague arbitral ruling under the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea?
The
masses are strongly behind you, Mr. President, but they are also fearful and
skeptical of overdependence on our Chinese neighbors.
You
say that you are protecting us. You say that if we insist on our rights, we
risk going to war with China. But Vietnam and Malaysia stood their ground, and
a war is yet to be seen. We are sure you would never want to be deemed weaker
than the leaders of these other countries.
This
is the land our forefathers fought for for centuries — the land they gave up
their lives for so that we, the future generations, can enjoy the freedom they
could only dream about. If our freedom was worth so much as to die for, then we
should not and cannot submit without putting up a fight.
We
do need your protection, sir. Not against war, but against the exploitation of
our people and our resources without any protest from you, our own head of
state. We need someone to fight for us, Mr. President — someone who is not
afraid to stand by the people, stand by the law and stand up for what is right.
Marie
Castro, Francine Dizon, Bianca Garcia, Gina Jacob, Patricia Santos, c/o ashleydecas@gmail.com
Public domain photo
ReplyDeletePhoto link:
https://www.needpix.com/photo/1121380/dragon-monster-mythical-creatures-creature-china-sculpture-stone-figure-statue-art
Gonzalinho
SIMILAR RED FLAGS
ReplyDeletePhilippine Daily Inquirer / 04:08 AM January 07, 2020
…Red flags eerily similar to what Mr. Duterte has been denouncing in the Manila Water-Maynilad case have been raised about the Kaliwa Dam deal by many observers.
For one, according to Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, the deal provides that any dispute or default in payments will be decided in a court in Beijing using Chinese laws. The contract, Zarate said, imposes an admission on the part of the Philippines that the agreement does not violate any of its laws.
“Worse, it provides that any dispute such as a delay or default in payment shall be resolved by the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission and shall be governed by the laws of China. It even imposes that the venue shall be in Beijing.”
Similarly, human rights lawyer Neri Colmenares, in filing a suit at the Supreme Court against the Kaliwa Dam project, charged that the deal was laden with onerous provisions detrimental to the people: “The conditions have been dictated by China, from the interest rates, choice of contractor and workers, an affirmation by the (Department of Justice) secretary on the legality of the loan, confidentiality of the terms of the agreement, and in case of default, China can take over a property of the Philippines in exchange.”
The lopsided framework is not limited to Kaliwa. Retired Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio has warned against other infrastructure projects funded through Chinese loans such as the $62-million Chico River project.
“In case of default by the Philippines in repayment of the loan, China can seize, to satisfy any arbitral award in favor of China, ‘patrimonial assets and assets dedicated to commercial use’ of the Philippine government,” Carpio said in a forum in March 2019.
The Chico River deal, signed several months before Kaliwa Dam, is expected to be the template for all other Chinese loans to the Philippines, he said.
Aside from its questionable provisions, the Kaliwa Dam project would also displace the indigenous peoples living in the areas to be inundated by the dam. Yet, despite these concerns, the President has forcefully pushed for the project, even warning the courts not to dare issue any temporary restraining orders.
Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/126453/similar-red-flags#ixzz6fNkMsTSJ
Duterte is the fox guarding the chickens.
Gonzalinho
SANGLEY SURPRISE
ReplyDeletePhilippine Daily Inquirer / 05:00 AM January 10, 2020
Following the staunch example of Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia are grabbing international headlines these days for their vigorous pushback against Chinese encroachments into waters and territories in the South China Sea (SCS) that the two countries claim as their own.
Malaysia enraged Beijing when it submitted to the United Nations on Dec. 12, 2019, its claim to an extended continental shelf in the SCS. Malaysia is unfazed by threats of Chinese reprisal, said Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah: “If we are to fear that, we will not submit our claim.”
Indonesia has likewise forcefully rejected Beijing’s sweeping claims over the SCS, specifically protesting against China’s poaching and trespassing near the Natuna Islands. The basis it cited for its diplomatic protest was, interestingly, the arbitral award won by a neighboring country—the Philippines—against China in July 2016, which invalidated Beijing’s so-called nine-dash-line claim over much of the SCS. “There is nothing to compromise when it comes to our nation’s territorial sovereignty,” vowed Indonesian President Joko Widodo. In a further ballsy move, Widodo visited the Natuna Islands along with top military officials, declaring: “Natuna is part of Indonesia’s territory, there is no question, no doubt.” As for fears that economic relations between China and Indonesia might be affected, Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s minister of maritime and investment affairs, was unusually blunt: “I would not sell our sovereignty for investment, never. I’m not stupid.”
In the Philippines, meanwhile—the country that otherwise holds the distinction of having won the first and so far only international arbitration award against China in the roiling SCS issue—the march is toward the opposite direction. Not only have Chinese nationals flooded the country in the hundreds of thousands to work in Chinese online casino companies; Chinese companies have also worked their way into massive infrastructure development projects with serious implications for national defense and security.
…Last Dec. 17, China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. (CCCC), one of China’s biggest infrastructure companies, and partner MacroAsia Corp., the publicly listed aviation services company owned by taipan Lucio Tan, submitted the sole bid for the planned Sangley Point International Airport by the Cavite government. With no competitors, the CCCC-MacroAsia venture will likely win the project, with the awarding possibly done as early as next week.
To be continued
Continued
ReplyDeleteSANGLEY SURPRISE
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:00 AM January 10, 2020
…Naval and air military bases had long been positioned at Sangley Point precisely because of its strategic location, ideal for protecting the Philippines’ capital, explained Pama. “Only an idiot will not understand the adverse security implication to our country of this reported win of MacroAsia and its Chinese company partner to purchase Sangley airport. If this is implemented, it will be a dagger pointed to the heart of the nation!”
…CCCC was blacklisted by the World Bank from 2011-2017 due to the questionable practices of its subsidiary China Road and Bridge Corp., said to have colluded on the bidding for the first phase of the Philippine National Roads Improvement and Management Program. The debarment was extended to CCCC and all firms that it directly or indirectly controls.
More startling, however, is this: It was also a CCCC subsidiary that helped build China’s artificial islands turned military outposts on territory seized from the Philippines. Manila, in effect, may end up rewarding the very same entity that had a direct hand in undermining the country’s interests and position in the SCS. As Greg Poling of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative pointed out in a tweet: “This is bonkers. Manila to award a multi-billion dollar airport project, and at a strategically vital location, to the same Chinese company that illegally built an artificial island at Mischief Reef in PH waters.”
Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/126514/sangley-surprise#ixzz6fNhc3Shj
Duterte is the fox guarding the chickens.
Gonzalinho