Category Archives: Pacific
ASEAN Struggles Over Countries Bordering The South China Sea Issue
ASEAN Struggles over countries bordering the South China Sea to make progress Wednesday on a code of conduct designed to ease tension in the flashpoint South China Sea, diplomatic sources said. The vast area which is claimed in whole or part by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.
The two sides were due to meet at a summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Cambodia amid splits on what the code should include and how it should be implemented.
A joint statement to be issued by ASEAN foreign ministers was also held up as countries wrangled over whether to include a reference to recent spats over the resource-rich waterway pitting China against Vietnam, and the Philippines according to AFP reports.
“ASEAN foreign ministers are having an emergency meeting to resolve the wording on the South China Sea in the joint statement,” an Asian diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Making a stand means the Philippines’ claims on specific areas in the disputed waters should be “codified in law” to strengthen the legal basis of the country’s maritime claims, said Gregory Poling, research associate of Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.
Philippines has edge over China in dispute territories according to Gregory Poling a US research associate of Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. On his statement
The Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries having laws to press their claims will also “allow them to present a united front to China in arguing one crucial point: The only acceptable basis for maritime claims in the South China Sea must be international law, especially UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).”
As stated in The Wall Street Journal, China moved to block efforts to resolve long-running tensions over claims in the disputed South China Sea, warning participants in a regional summit attended by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton here that it is “crucial” they leave the issue out of their discussions. ASEAN Struggles Over Countries Bordering The South China Sea Satellite Photos / Images credits China.usc.edu.
Qantas back to normal after Leap Second system crash
The leap second is being blamed for a Qantas system meltdown yesterday that left thousands of passengers stranded around the country. Up to 50 Qantas flights were delayed by a system glitch with global reservation software Amadeus, which left the airline unable to check in passengers.
The “leap second” was added to the Coordinated Universal Time to adjust clocks to the earth’s rotation the night of June 30, delaying for one second the transition to July 1 AFP reports.
Amadeus is the global program that monitors flight weight control, inventory and seat bookings. Qantas spokeswoman Lauren Blank said the airline system returned to normal by noon, but many passengers were affected by the backlog.
“Amadeus had a global outage which affects all clients worldwide,” Ms Blank said, before conceding the leap second had been mentioned as the reason.
Leap second causes Internet glitches—On Saturday at midnight Greenwich Mean Time, official timekeepers around the globe held clocks back by a second to keep them in line with the Earth’s rotation, according to Wired.com.
Indonesian and Malaysian Soldiers Arrived In The Philippines For Peace Pact
A group of Indonesian army personnel and 5 civilian experts arrived in the Philippines to join a Malaysia-led international contingent safeguarding a ceasefire between Philippine troops and the country’s largest Muslim rebel group in the volatile south.
