OFFBEAT MAIL

That's a big question that plays in the minds of most democratic-loving people worldwide. Map shows location of Paracel Islands and Spratly Islands.  According to the China's foreign ministry, the Philippines' filing of a complaint before ITLOS was tantamount to stealing its territories. If China is really the legitimate owner of some, if not all, the islands in the South China Sea, how come it didn't raise a howl when the UNCLOS was created? Wasn't China aware of the consequences as soon as the UNCLOS was created? In fact, it was clear from the beginning that a particular country has the right to own up islands that are within its 250 EEZ limits. Yet, China has kept mum on the issue until the Philippines decided to put a demarcation which eventually created the West Philippine Sea. Even as this article is being written, Chinese Coast Guards had been intimidating smaller Philippine ships that went to Ayungin Shoal to bring food rations to some soldiers who w...

Over 90 percent of the world's rice is produced and consumed in the Asia-Pacific region where more than three billion people live. A population projection made for 2025 by FAO shows an average increase of 51 percent based on the year 1995; therefore, the amount of rice produced at 524 million tons annually to serve current consumers has to be increased to 700 million tons by 2025. The task of increasing the rice supply is facing difficulties due to climate change and the lack of new generation farmers. While the number of consumers in each mega city is growing, the number of producers is diminishing dramatically. Dr. Sujin Realizing the problems, Thailand's Rice Department, in cooperation with Naresuan University (NU), is trying to replace human labor by utilizing agricultural machinery to produce enough supply for national consumption and for export.  NU has conducted several research studies to increase yield and reduce the cost of rice production whereas the Ri...

It's frustrating to know that nothing really happened after foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations failed to approve a substantial communique that would, once and for all, resolve the controversy that now hounds the contested territories in the South China Sea. Consequently, claimant countries like the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia have expressed apprehensions as to the way the Chinese government behaves in so far as China's muscle-flexing in the disputed territories is concerned. What I learned is that Cambodia seemed unwilling to cooperate with what the other Asean members wanted in the first place--to form a European-style economic block by 2015. The intention was to show China what the Asean block could do to level the playing field in the northeast part of the South China Sea. While the controversy remains unresolved, "intense nationalist feelings around the region" are believed to be making it more difficult fo...