Philippines To Grant Japan Access to Military Bases

Reuters December 17, 2023

By Karen Lema (Reuters) The Philippines and Japan have started talks on a reciprocal access agreement that would allow the deployment of military forces on each other’s soil, amid growing tensions in the region. Japan also has maritime disputes with China.

“It is not sufficient actually with just Japan and the Philippines to enter into this agreement. We really must get more of these kind of arrangements in place,” Marcos said.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said tensions in the South China Sea have “increased rather than diminished” in recent months, warning that a “more assertive China” posed a “real challenge” to its Asian neighbours.

In an interview with Japanese media on Saturday, Marcos underscored the need to forge strong alliances with like-minded allies, akin to the trilateral cooperation among the Philippines, Japan and the United States.

“I’m afraid we’ll have to be able to say that tensions have increased rather than diminished for the past months or the past years,” Marcos said, according to a press release from his office as he attends a Tokyo summit of Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

A week ago, Manila and Beijing traded accusations over a collision of their vessels near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea as tensions over claims in the vital waterway escalate.

In addition to the Philippines, ASEAN members Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei claim parts of the South China Sea disputed by China, which claims almost all of the sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 said China’s claims had no legal basis, a ruling the United States supports but Beijing rejects.

“We have to… continue to counsel peace and continue communication between the different countries – everyone that is involved,” Marcos said.

The challenge that China posed required “new solutions”, said Marcos, who has vowed to defend his country’s rights in the South China Sea after the collision, which Manila has described as a “serious escalation”.

https://gcaptain.com/philippines-to-grant-japan-access-to-military-bases/

Canada #50 >>20105278

Assange gets ‘last chance’ US extradition appeal date

The WikiLeaks founder faces a sentence of 175 years on charges of disclosing classified information if handed over by Britain

20 December 2023

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s possible final appeal against extradition to the United States will be held at the UK High Court of Justice in London on February 20 and 21, according to a statement released by the media organization.

Assange faces 17 charges under the US Espionage Act and potentially a 175-year prison sentence. Two judges will review a ruling made in June, which had refused the journalist’s permission to make any further appeals.

This “may be the final chance for Julian Assange to prevent his extradition to the United States,” WikiLeaks warned in a statement. On June 6, a UK High Court judge rejected all eight grounds for his motion, backing the 2020 extradition order.

The judge also struck down parts of the January 2021 ruling, which had turned down Assange’s extradition due to concerns about risk of suicide and poor health. This possible final appeal will be the last opportunity to fight extradition in the UK. The next step for Assange’s lawyers could be to bring the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

“With the myriad of evidence that has come to light since the original hearing in 2019, such as the violation of legal privilege and reports that senior US officials were involved in formulating assassination plots against my husband, there is no denying that a fair trial, let alone Julian’s safety on US soil, is an impossibility were he to be extradited. The persecution of this innocent journalist and publisher must end,” the journalist’s wife, Stella Assange, whom he married while in prison, said in a statement.

Australian PM condemns US prosecution of Assange

Read more Australian PM condemns US prosecution of Assange

Assange, 52, has been behind bars in London since 2019, when Ecuador, in whose embassy he had sought sanctuary for 7 years revoked his asylum – reportedly at the request of the US – and turned him over to the British police. Following his arrest, the US charged Assange with espionage over the 2010 publication of classified military and State Department documents, which US prosecutors said had put lives in danger. The UK has since approved his extradition to the US.

Assange has been trying to overturn that decision, insisting that he violated no laws and that his publication of the classified documents was legitimate journalism protected by the US Constitution. The Espionage Act has never before been used to prosecute a journalist or media who published but did not steal classified material.

https://www.rt.com/news/589360-assange-gets-appeal-court-date/