Philippine President Slams Beijing for Acting like Nazis in the South China Sea

Philippine President Benigno Aquino delivers a speech in the Japanese parliament during his visit to Tokyo on June 3, 2015. - Kazuhiro Nogi — AFP/Getty Images

This isn't the first time he’s compared the Chinese leadership to the Third Reich

Philippine President Benigno Aquino refused to pull his punches in Tokyo on Wednesday when he compared Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea to Nazi Germany’s demands for Czech territory in the 1930s.

During a speech to business leaders in the Japanese capital, Aquino blasted the Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing claim to a majority of the potentially resource-rich waters of the South China Sea.

“I’m an amateur student of history and I’m reminded of… how Germany was testing the waters and what the response was by various other European powers,” said Aquino, in an apparent reference to the Nazis’ territorial conquests in Europe during the run up to World War II, according to Agence France-Presse.

Aquino’s remarks echo similar sentiments made during an interview with the New York Times last year when he also made comparisons between Beijing’s maritime maneuvers now with Nazi Germany’s actions in the late 1930s.

At the time, Chinese state media outlets lambasted the comparison and said the president was an “amateurish politician who was ignorant both of history and reality.”  - TIME

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Malaysia summons Philippines, Sultanate of Sulu claimed Sabah. Bangsamoro betrayed Philippines for Malaysia

(North Borneo) Sabah is ours, Malaysia tells the Philippines - Image from Malaysiakini.com

Malaysia summons Philippine Charge d' Affaires over claims on Sabah

Malaysia summons Philippine Charge d' Affaires over claims on Sabah

KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 (Xinhua)-- Malaysian Foreign Ministry summoned the Philippine Charge d'Affaires on May 19 over recent remarks made by Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III on the Philippines'claim on Sabah, according to a statement of Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman on Sunday.

It said that Medardo G. Macaraig, the Philippine Charge d' Affaires, was summoned on May 19 over Aquino's remarks on the Philippines'claim on Sabah in an interview with Philippines journalist Raissa on May 15.

During the interview, Aquino said that he would not drop the Philippine claim to Sabah. "The government of Malaysia reiterates its position that Malaysia does not recognize and will not entertain any claims by any party on Sabah,"Anifah said in the statement, adding that Sabah is recognized by the UN and international community as part of Malaysia since Sept. 16, 1963.

The Philippines has made a territorial claim over the eastern part of Sabah, claiming that the territory, via the heritage of the Sultanate of Sulu, was only leased to the North Borneo Chartered Company in 1878 with the Sultanate's sovereignty never being relinquished.

The question was posed to Aquino amid growing speculation that Manila would drop the Sabah claim in exchange for Malaysia’s support for a Bangsamoro government in southern Philippines.

Bangsamoro promised to Malaysia not to claim Sabah North Borneo but to support and strengthen Malaysia's position over Sabah in return for their support on the ongoing Bangsamoro sub state negotiation with the Manila government.

Malaysia, however, considers this dispute as a"non-issue,"as it interprets the 1878 agreement as that of cession and it deems that the residents of Sabah had exercised their right to self- determination when they joined to form the Malaysian federation in 1963. -  with sources from Global Post and Xinhua News Agency

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Philippine Economy is the Strongest in the World - Findings of Washington USA Think Tank

Philippines has most resilient economy – study

(CNN Philippines) — Should an economic crisis akin to last decade's Great Recession happen again, the Philippines would be the most "resilient" country and be able withstand it, despite its status as an emerging-market economy.

That's the assessment of Center for Global Development (CGD), a think tank based in Washington, D.C.

It's not that hard to imagine another financial crisis happening: Growth in China — the world's second largest economy — has slowed, the United States' bull market hasn't had a correction since 2011, and in the Eurozone, debt-ridden Greece has yet to strike a deal with its creditors.

Economist Liliana Rojas-Suarez of the CGD recently created a "resilience indicator" that measures the vulnerability of an economy to future financial shocks.

Her metric looks into several economic indicators that fall under two categories:

• a country's ability to withstand external shocks 
• government's ability to "rapidly" implement policies that counteract the effects of such shocks 

"I compare the values of the identified variables in 2007 (the preglobal financial crisis year) with the respective values at the end of 2014," she said.

Rojas-Suarez explained: "A country is said to be highly resilient to adverse external shocks if the event does not result in a sharp contractions of economic growth, a severe decline in the rate of growth of real credit and/or the emergence of deep instabilities in the financial sector."

Of the 21 countries she studied, Rojas-Suarez ranked the Philippines as the most resilient economy, ahead of South Korea and China, which fall at second and third, respectively.

Rojas-Suarez found that the Philippines posted a strong improvement in its indebtedness. The debt indicators had substantial influence over the country's ranking.

For example, she points out that the country cut in half its external debt to GDP ratio "from around 40 percent in 2007 to around 20 percent in 2014." This figure stands in stark contrast with most whose ratios are "without significant changes" within that same time period.

She also cites the country's lower government debt to GDP ratio which stood above 40% in 2007, and subsequently shrank to below that figure in 2014.

Likewise, the country also stood out because of its improved inflation performance in 2014 relative to 2007. Rojas-Suarez pointed out that inflation rates have been within the government's targets.

Latin American countries did not do well in the study: "Four of the six Latin American countries in the sample have deteriorated their positions in the ranking. This includes Argentina, which now holds the last position. "

Apart from "bad luck in terms of unfavorable trade," Rojas-Suarez explained that such countries ranked lower because of "the squandering of opportunity to implement needed reforms in the good post-crisis years."

Her study ultimately affirms a long-running cliché: An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

"Policy decisions taken in the precrisis period played a major role in explaining a country's macroeconomic performance during the global economic crisis (of last decade)," explained Rojas-Suarez.

"[I]nitial conditions at the onset of a severe adverse external shock matter a lot. The good news is that, besides the commodity price shock, the most feared external shock: a sudden rise in interest rates in the US has not (yet) materialized. Time is still on the side of emerging markets’ authorities." - CNN

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