US sends out Chinese gifts to Filipino journalists

A newspaper employee shows off Friday, December 18, 2009 a Chinese-made umbrella sent by the United States Embassy in Manila. The trade dispute between Washington and Beijing had a record $268 billion surplus last year in China’s favor. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / December 18, 2009) – Despite a trade dispute between the United States and China, the US Embassy in Manila gifted Friday selected Filipino journalists a beautiful umbrella made in China.

The embassy’s Public Affairs Section sent out the huge blue umbrella emblazoned with the seal of the United States. The umbrella was wrapped in a clear plastic with Chinese markings and manufactured by Ing Yi.

The trade dispute between the two countries had a record $268 billion surplus last year in China’s favor.

According to the Washington D.C.-based Council on Foreign Relations, a major factor in China's quick rise has been its vigorous trade activity with the United States.

Trade volume between the two nations reached $211.6 billion in 2005, more than eighty times the $2.4 billion exchanged in 1979, the year they established normal trade relations. This has accelerated in recent years; from 2001 to 2005, the volume of U.S.-Chinese trade increased an average of 27.4 percent a year. The United States has become the top destination of Chinese merchandise exports and China is buying up more and more U.S. goods, with U.S. exports to China rising 21.5 percent each of the last four years.

In 2005 the United States ran a bilateral trade deficit with China of $202 billion, up from $162 billion the previous year.

The New York Times reported in September that both Washington and Beijing face domestic pressure to take a tougher stand against the other on economic issues. But the trade frictions are increasing political tensions between the two nations even as they try to work together to revive the global economy and combat mutual security threats, like the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.

President Barack Obama also in September announced that the United States would levy tariffs of up to 35 percent on tires from China.

Obama’s decision to impose tariffs on Chinese tires is a signal that he plans to deliver on his promise to labor unions that he would more strictly enforce trade laws, especially against China, which has become the world’s factory while the United States has lost millions of manufacturing jobs.

China’s commerce ministry issued a formulaic criticism of the American action, but after a frenzy of anti-American rhetoric on Chinese Web sites, the ministry announced that it would take the first steps toward imposing tariffs on American exports of automotive products and chicken meat.

The ministry said it was demanding talks with the United States on the tire tariffs. Carol J. Guthrie, a spokeswoman for the office of the United States trade representative, said the United States wanted to avoid disputes with China and continue talks, but would look at any Chinese trade decisions for whether they comply with World Trade Organization rules.

The New York Times reported that China exported $1.3 billion in tires to the United States in the first seven months of 2009, while the United States shipped about $800 million in automotive products and $376 million in chicken meat to China, according to data from Global Trade Information Services in Columbia, South Carolina. (Mindanao Examiner)

Sulu To Become Like RP's Boracay Resorts Or Thailand's Phuket

One of the many white sands beach in Sulu province. Sulu is embarking on an ambitious tourism program that will make it like world-famous resorts similar to Phuket in Thailand. (Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 16 Sept) – Sulu province in the southern Philippines may soon become an island resort similar to Boracay in central Philippines or even Phuket in Thailand as part of a new tourism plan to lure Filipino and foreign visitors.

Governor Sakur Tan said they would convert some of Sulu’s islands and pristine beaches into resorts, complete with amenities and business centers and land and water vessels to transport holiday-makers.

“We wanted to develop Sulu into one of the most beautiful places in the Philippines and we are pursuing an ambitious program to promote tourism and also trade and investments,” Tan told reporters.

Tan said the plan to put up world-class resorts in Sulu would probably begin in 2008 and would take between one to two years to finish. “We are now working on this project,” he said.

Aside from Sulu’s white-sands beaches, Tan said the province also boasts of dive sites and is rich in marine resources.

Tan said Sulu would also begin shipping live marine products, such as groupers and lobsters and abalone to buyers in Manila and Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan.

He said that there is plan to put up an air cargo and passenger airlines in Sulu to further help local fishermen and cooperatives sell their products, from coffee beans to live marine animals.

“This is a long-term plan that will help many people and cooperatives in Sulu and eventually the province will become a center of marine trade in the southern Philippines. We can supply huge marine products to buyers,” Tan said.

He said the province is also abundant in copra and exotic fruits, such as durian and mangosteen berries and has a steady supply of high-grade abaca ropes.

Just this month, Sulu shipped out about six tons of durian and mangosteen to markets in Manila as part of the so-called “Invest in Peace and Prosperity - Fruits of Hope program.”

The international nongovernmental organization, Asia-America Initiative, headed by Albert Santoli, has supported the program and promised to help even more by tapping other NGOs to help support the peace and development in Sulu.

Sen. Richard Gordon said the government is putting more efforts in Sulu and other areas in Mindanao to help farmers sell their products.

President Gloria Arroyo in August ordered a "humanitarian and development offensive" in Jolo island.

Sen. Loren Legarda has filed a bill proposing the creation of a special economic zone and free port in Jolo island to promote and hasten the industrial and economic development of the area.

The SSEZA shall be provided with transportation, telecommunication, and other facilities needed to attract legitimate and productive foreign investments, generates linkage with industries and create employment opportunities for the people of the province, she said. (Mindanao Examiner)

Arroyo Bet In Sulu Pledges Reforms, Better Governance

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Former Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

JOLO (Mindanao Examiner / 24 Feb) – President Gloria Arroyo’s KAMPI party’s gubernatorial candidate in Sulu, Abdusakur Tan, on Saturday said he would pursue a vigorous program aimed at fighting poverty and to transform the island into a peace zone.

“Ours is government that will address the poverty situation through sustainable economic and livelihood programs and a peace agenda that will be beneficial to all. Peace and progress and reforms go side by side with development and we will pursue these programs with the support of all sectors.”

“People want change and we promise better governance which is transparent and honest and to make Sulu a progressive place in the South,” Tan said.

Tan previously served as a member of the regional parliament and governor of Sulu province and is one of the most respected politicians in southern Philippines.

Tan, largely known in Sulu as a religious man and a philanthropist, is said to be running unopposed. He joined the KAMPI (Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino) party this year and was chosen as the government’s official candidate for the gubernatorial post.

Muslim religious leaders are also backing Tan and traders praised his candidacy, saying, his expertise in business management will help Sulu recover from its ailing economy.

Aside from Tan, other local politicians who joined Kampi party were Mayor Anton Burahan, of Pata town; former ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly speaker, Alvares Isnaji; Mayor Tambrin Tulawie, of Talipao town; Mayor Munib Estino, of Panglima Estino town; and ex-governor Yusop Jikiri.

Kampi party provincial chairman Rep. Hussin Amin, now on his third and last term, is running for mayor in Jolo town and Jikiri, as congressman in Sulu's 1st District. (Mindanao Examiner)