ASTORIA PLAZA, Pasig City – China’s nine-dash line is ambiguous, causing confusion for the energy development players from South China Sea littoral States, according to Lucio Pitlo III, a lecturer of International Relations at the De La Salle University and of the Chinese Studies Program of Ateneo de Manila University, at a roundtable discussion on oil and gas.
From Left to Right: PRC Political Counsellor He Xiangqi; APPFI Trustee Johnny Tio Co; partners Dr Poch Macaranas of AIM, Jeffrey Ng of Astoria Plaza and Narzalina Lim of APPI; advisers Alfonso Uygongco, Carlos Chan and Cesar Virata; Amb. Zhao Jianhua; and Trustees Aileen Baviera, Wilfrido Villacorta, Raphael Lotilla, Henry Lim and Miriam Coronel- Ferrer.
Officers and trustees of the APPFI met with Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua at a dinner last February 24 held at the Jinjiang Inn in Makati. The ambassador was accompanied by Political Counsellor He Xiangqi, Director Yu Jun and Second Secretary Chen Qingjie. Aside from its trustees, APPFI’s senior advisers Dr Cesar Virata and Mr Alfonso Uygongco, as well as friends from the private sector were invited for the lively conversation. The dinner was organized upon the initiative of APPFI and was hosted by Special Envoy to China Mr Carlos Chan.
Dr Baviera delivered a lecture before college and high school students at Chiang Kai Shek College on January 14, upon the invitation of the school president Dr.Dory Poa and Dean Raymond Datuon of the School of Education. She spoke about Southeast Asia-China relations, as part of their Golden Symposium commemorating the 50th founding anniversary of the Narra Campus.
Bloomberg TV Philippines invited Dr Aileen Baviera for a brief interview on First Up, its morning news program last February 4. She was asked for her reactions to recent confrontations between China and the U.S. in the South China Sea, particularly following China’s island construction and militarization of its occupied features, and the U.S. position that it would continue to engage in “freedom of navigation operations” (FONOPS) in the area. Asked whether there was a real risk of armed conflict between the two powers, she replied that she thought there was a lot of posturing and signalling going on between the two sides but that a deliberate instigation was not likely to happen because confrontation would be quite costly for both, especially that they had just raised the stakes. The greater risk would arise from a miscalculation or over-reaction by either side.