Senate to probe on secret Spratly deal
The Philippines has yet to benefit from the US$500 million North Rail Agreement between the Philippines and China, even if its blueprint for implementation has been prepared many months back. Reason? The Chinese government has yet to see a sealed agreement that will eventually allow China to explore part of the Philippine continental shelf in the Spratly Group of Islands, where the Philippine government has established sovereignty over the Kalayaan Group of Island, as part of a concession signed by the present administration and that of Vietnam. Vietnam used to contest the joint exploration in that part of the South China Sea. The controversy came out after an article published by the Far Eastern Economic Review outlined this tripartite undertaking in violation of the 2002 Asean-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. Barry Wain, a former Wall Street Journal Asia editor and now writer-in residence for the Singapore-based Institute for Southeast Asian Studies...