Spratly Islands row: Philippine trip riles China

China says the Philippines infringed its sovereignty on Wednesday by sending a delegation of politicians to a disputed island in the South China Sea.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said China had "indisputable sovereignty" over the island, in the Spratlys chain.

A group of Philippine congressmen had flown to Pagasa island on Wednesday and declared it Philippine territory.

The Spratly Islands are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.

The Spratly dispute is part of a larger territorial row, which also involves Brunei and Malaysia.

The regional grouping Asean (Association of South East Asian Nations) is currently meeting in Bali, where talks have focused on framing guidelines for resolving the dispute.

Tension has been growing this year, with China making a series of tough statements warning off Vietnam and the Philippines.

"China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their surrounding waters," said Mr Ma.

"The move of the Philippine side seriously infringed China's territorial sovereignty."

The Philippine congressmen landed on Pagasa island, the only island in the Spratlys populated by Filipinos, and sang the national anthem with residents.

Pagasa, also known as Tithu island, lies about 480km (300 miles) west of the western Philippine province of Palawan.

It has an airstrip, a military base and a small town hall, and is occupied by about 60 civilians.

The Spratly Islands lie in an area thought to be rich in oil and gas. The region also has vital shipping routes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14230708

    The step that Philippines took is a brave statement that we are not backing down from any countries if it involves a part of our territory and our rights are being violated. I don't really understand why China is trying to possess the Spratly Islands when it's clearly a part of our territory as far as the picture shows.  China is one of the powerful countries in the world and one of our biggest business partners but it doesn't mean that they can easily grab things here and there. I know that I don't have the full knowledge on how they consider a place their own but its common sense that what is near to our country is part of us and China is too far from what they considered as their own. Based on how China is reacting on this issue, I realize that these islands have great economic importance. As what they say there are possible high concentrations of oil deposits on that islands and also a vital shipping route so it is really a clear territorial and economic advantage for countries who are saying that it is theirs. Within this issue also poses a threat between the relationship of the main countries China and Philippines as well as the other countries. It can damage the peace as well as economic ties and the fact that we have many countrymen in their territories as well they bring business opportunities to us, it is really a difficult situation. But we Filipinos must stand together and fight for what we know is ours. We shouldn't let foreigners just step on our toes rather take a stand for our right. Well I just hope that this issue will be settled in a peaceful way and our relationship between these countries will be still the same. We are all part of Asia and we should work together to improve our economies in this time of global financial crisis rather than fight, when in the end all of us will lose. 

INVESTORS FAVOR GAS AHEAD OF SOLAR, NUCLEAR

June 17, 2011, 11:49am

LONDON (Reuters) - Gas was the preferred energy investment pick of executives, analysts and investors attending a Reuters summit this week, beating solar and nuclear by a wide margin.

Over 60 percent of those at Reuters' Energy and Climate Summit this week chose natural gas. None picked coal.

"There is clearly a tremendous amount of gas on a global basis, but there is also a great increase in the global demand for gas and that can only accelerate as we try to move away from an oil-based global economy," said Stephen Trauber, head of energy at Citigroup.

The International Energy Agency forecast on Thursday that global gas demand will rise nearly 14 percent by 2016 as it becomes a preferred fuel of choice for power generation, a prospect which could start a "golden age" of gas by 2035 when the demand for gas could near that of oil.

The development of unconventional gas sources in the U.S. and Australia has lifted the outlook for gas supply, while a global political drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has made gas a cleaner and more attractive alternative to burning carbon-intensive coal and fuel oil for power generation.

"By 2050, probably 60 percent or more (of energy demand) will still come from fossil fuel and that stresses why we need to deal with the emissions of those sources," said Graeme Sweeney, executive vice president of CO2 at Shell.

Gas as alternative to nuclear
The nuclear power incident at Japan's Fukushima in March strengthened public opposition to nuclear, which led Germany to permanently close some of its oldest nuclear power plants.

Italians also voted in referendum earlier this week to reject the nuclear renaissance in their country which is likely to result in even higher gas dependence.

"Germany is an ideal example that an alternative to nuclear has to be gas," said Lloyd's Head of Oil and Gas Andrew Moorfield.

"Gas is probably the only viable relatively clean carbon fuel source, this clearly has an implication for long term gas prices."

But growing demand for gas in emerging economies in Asia has tightened the outlook for European supply, especially as the development of unconventional gas is widely expected to be minimal in Europe.

Experts believe European shale gas exploration will be limited due to environmental concerns and logistical problems because of restricted access.

"The big unknown for the gas development in general lies in Chinese attitude toward unconventional reserves. Will they develop them? If they do, will it suppress their imports? Could they turn exporter?" said Emmanuel Fages, head of power, gas, carbon and coal research at Societe Generale.

http://www.mb.com.ph/node/323050/inve

People greatly depend on energy. Whether we like it or not, we need it. But does it come to our mind where do we get the energy we need in our everyday lives?? The most common source is coal and fossil fuel. This source of energy fuels our planet for more than a century now and resources are quickly depleting. But these energy sources come with a price, we get energy and we also produce emission that's harmful to our planet. This issue doesn't only affect the 1st world countries that's producing these materials but all of us living in this world and uses these sources of energy. We might wonder why we use these if it pollutes our world. It is because it is the easiest and cost efficient way of getting energy. There are many types of energy, namely wind, solar, nuclear and many more. Why don't we use this energy as a substitute to coal and fossil fuel? Because of the high cost and possibly a more harmful effect to humans. Building windmills, solar panel and nuclear power plants can only be afforded by rich countries and it's not practical because they get less energy than they get from coal and fossil fuel while spending more money. Nuclear energy is helpful but can be harmful if not properly maintain and if also calamity will strike like what happened to Japan. Gas is what they want now. They hope that it could fill up the needs of people for energy using this clean carbon fuel source. The most common gas that we know is LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas). Before it is only used for cooking but now it is also used for automobiles like gasoline/diesel. It is a good sign for us that many innovations are being introduced in order to lessen our dependence to coal and fossil fuel but like what Newton's Law states (To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction) and like all sources of energy I believe that there is also a setback in using gas. And for those gas rich countries, will they develop their resources and open it to world or will they keep it and if ever they will share it will they take advantage on the prices? These problems will surely be tackled as gas will take the role of coal and fossil fuel in the future. I just hope that we can develop a source of energy that will have no effects to our world, safe for us to use and will not be a cause for disputes between countries.