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.
PASIG, Philippines – The Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, Inc. (APPFI), in partnership with the University of the Philippines Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea (UP IMLOS), gathered academics, marine scientists, fisheries experts, and representatives from the commercial fisheries sector, fisherfolk NGOs, and government in a roundtable discussion on fisheries in the South China Sea (SCS) last January 26 at the Astoria Plaza in Pasig City.
The second workshop of the initiative “Partnership for Regional Peace: Operationalising ASEAN-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in Southeast Asia” was held in Hainan, China from 17-19 January 2016. Organized by two think tanks - the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Indonesia and China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies (NISCS) – and supported as well by Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, this meeting follows an initial workshop held last September in Jakarta.