The Philippine coastguard called on its country’s fishing fleets to keep operating around the Scarborough Shoal (known as Bajo de Masinloc in the Philippines and Huangyan Dao in China) despite the large Chinese presence in the disputed South China Sea area.
Coastguard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said while Philippine government vessels can’t maintain a constant presence, they are committed to protecting the country’s fishing rights in what it sees as its Exclusive Economic Zone.
Category: Standard Gauge Railway
Kenya’s High Court Rules Contract for Chinese-Financed Railway Can Remain Secret
Kenya's highest court ruled the government does not have to reveal the contract for the controversial Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). Friday's ruling overturned a 2020 Appeals Court ruling that claimed the government had indeed flouted procurement disclosure laws when it refused to publish ...
China Blocked Kenya From Getting Competitive Bids to Build Costly Railway, Supreme Court Told
Kenya’s Supreme Court hearings into the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) deal are revealing a deal tainted by collusion between Chinese and Kenyan actors. The account emerging from testimony shows that the deal defied oversight from the start. COMPETITIVE BIDDING: Financing depended on China ...
Chinese Contractor Signs $2.2 Billion Deal to Build Next Stage of Tanzania’s Standard Gauge Railway
The Tanzanian government and an unspecified Chinese contractor signed a $2.2 billion contract on Tuesday to build a 2,561km rail line from Dar es Salaam to the Lake Victoria city of Mwanza. It's important to note that even though Chinese contractors ...
Kenya’s Transport Minister to Chinese Ambassador: No Hard Feelings About the Release of SGR Loan Agreements, Right?
Kenya's Road and Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen was all smiles last week when Chinese ambassador Zhou Pingjian made a courtesy call to his office in what appears to be an effort to show that ties between the two had not been impacted by the ...
Kenya’s Supreme Court to Weigh In on SGR Contract
Kenya’s Supreme Court will rule on the legality of the country’s Standard Gauge Railway contract. Opponents say the contract being awarded to China Road and Bridge Corp contravened Kenya’s competitive tender rules. The ruling will ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Philippine Fishing Fleets Urged to Maintain Presence at Disputed Shoal as Tensions Build
Just as in Nigeria, Kenyan Lawmakers Are Also Confused About What It Means to Waive “Sovereign Immunity” in Chinese Loan Contracts
Anger is mounting across Kenyan society over the terms of the loan agreements with the China Exim Bank for the multi-billion dollar Standard Gauge Railway that were released by the government on Sunday. Members of Parliament are sounding off in the ...
Kenyans React to Publication of SGR Documents
The decision by the incoming government of Kenya to release some documents relating to the controversial Chinese-built Standard Gauge Railway is causing massive controversy at home. The main reaction has been anger that the main commercial contract has not yet been ...
New Kenyan Government Releases Controversial Chinese Loan Agreements For Standard Gauge Railway
Kenya's new Transport Minister Kipchumba Murkomen, rocked the political establishment in Nairobi over the weekend when he released the first details about the controversial multi-billion dollar loan from China to build the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
Why Kenya Should Have Never Borrowed So Much Money From China to Build the Standard Gauge Railway
The Kenyan national television network KTN broadcast a scathing 10-minute mini-documentary on Sunday that detailed the controversial history of the Standard Gauge Railway and how the lack of proper due diligence set the project to fail from the start. The focal ...
Even Amid Debt Crisis, Kenya Still Wants to Extend SGR to Ugandan Border
The burgeoning fiscal crisis in Kenya is not dampening the government's ambition to extend the Chinese-built Standard Gauge Railway from the Naivasha in the Rift Valley all the way to Kisumu near the border with Uganda. “This project will only make ...