Page 9 - Aruba Today

WORLD NEWS 9
Thursday 4 February 2016

Ambassador: U.S. to continue
South China Sea flights, sail-bys

This Feb. 1, 2005 file photo shows an aerial view of the Siachen
Glacier, which traverses the Himalayan region dividing India
and Pakistan, about 750 kilometers (469 miles) northwest of
Jammu, India.

Associated Press

U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg answers questions from the media during a fo- Avalanche traps 10 Indian
rum Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016 at suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines. Goldberg army soldiers on Kashmir
talked about the issue in the South China Sea involving the Philippines and China as well as the glacier
global fight against terrorism.

Associated Press

TERESA CEROJANO joint patrols in the area. or with others, but we do SRINAGAR, India (AP) — An achen Glacier at an alti-
Associated Press Two U.S. warships have discuss that principle with avalanche hit the Siachen tude of nearly 19,000 feet
MANILA, Philippines (AP) sailed by China-claimed the Philippines and so I am Glacier in the Indian-con- (5,800 meters).
— The U.S. ambassador islands in the Spratly and not discarding that pos- trolled portion of Kashmir Thousands of Indian and
said Wednesday joint pa- Paracel island chains since sibility,” Goldberg added early Wednesday, trapping Pakistani troops are sta-
trols with the Philippines are October. when asked if a proposal 10 Indian army soldiers in tioned on the freezing Hi-
possible in the South Chi- “I am not going to an- for U.S. joint patrols with the the snow. malayan terrain, where
na Sea, where the United nounce beforehand what Philippines has been ap- Army and air force teams more troops have died
States has asserted its free- we do in terms of freedom proved. were trying to rescue the from the grueling condi-
dom to navigate by send- of navigation, but suffice Tensions have risen in the soldiers in the northern part tions than from hostile fire.
ing planes and ships into it to say that the United last two years after China of the glacier, army spokes- Last month, four Indian sol-
China-claimed areas. States will follow interna- built islands on disputed man Col. S.D. Goswami diers on foot patrol were
Manila protested when a tional law, will continue to reefs in the Spratly Islands said. Rescue dogs also killed by an avalanche in
commercial Chinese air- enjoy our rights under inter- chain that China’s neigh- have been pressed into the same region.
craft landed recently on national law to sail through bors fear could be used service. In 2012, an avalanche in
one of several artificial is- international waters or fly to threaten their territories. Avalanches and landslides the Pakistan-controlled
lands Beijing has built in the to international air space,” China and Taiwan have are common in Kashmir, part of the glacier killed
Spratlys, and officials say Goldberg told a media fo- nearly identical claims to al- which is divided between 140 people, including 129
China has essentially de- rum.Philippine Foreign Sec- most the entire South China India and Pakistan and soldiers.
clared an air defense iden- retary Albert del Rosario Sea while the Philippines, claimed by both entirely. The two countries have dis-
tification zone over the sea said last week the officials Vietnam, Malaysia and The rival nations also dis- cussed ways to demilitarize
by issuing “provocative” discussing possible joint Brunei say parts of the sea pute the undemarcated the Siachen Glacier with-
challenges to Philippine patrols were looking at an belong to them. The United border through the Si- out success.q
military flights in the area. area within the Philippines’ States does not claim part
Ambassador Philip Gold- exclusive economic zone. of the territory but says it
berg said the U.S. and the “I am not going to prejudge has interest in the peaceful
Philippines both have deep what we are going to do settlement of the disputes
interest in ensuring freedom and when we are going to and in freedom of naviga-
of navigation and he is not do it, whether we are going tion in waters that are criti-
discarding the possibility of to do it with the Philippines cal for world trade.q