@mongster is a Manila-based activist, former Philippine legislator, and blogger/analyst of Asia-Pacific affairs.
Written for The Diplomat Philippine officials are denying the claim of the Chinese Foreign Ministry that there was a previous pledge to tow away its ship in the Second Thomas Shoal, known to Manila as Ayungin Shoal and to Beijing as Ren’ai Jiao. China did not identify the Filipino official who promised to remove the […]
News about Chinese ships surveying the waters of Benham Rise, located east of the northern part of the Philippines, has triggered a bit of panic in Manila’s political circles in the past few weeks. Perhaps the renewed sense of nationalism over the issue of Benham Rise could embolden policymakers and economic planners to draft a […]
Filipinos worldwide celebrated the ruling issued by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration with regard to the case filed by the Philippine government against China’s unilateral imposition of a “nine-dash line” claim in the South China Sea (known in the Philippines as West Philippine Sea). The court favored the petition of the Philippines by debunking […]
Myanmar’s Htin Kyaw has received praise for being the country’s first civilian president in more than half a century. But the media has also labeled him a ‘”proxy” and even “puppet” president because his position was granted through the support of National League for Democracy (NLD) party leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Interestingly, it’s not […]
