Star Online - Philippines says envoy recalled over Canada trash row (extracts):
MANILA (AFP): The Philippines has recalled its ambassador to Canada, Manila's foreign minister said Thursday, in an escalation of a festering diplomatic row over tonnes of trash shipped to the Southeast Asian nation.
Ties have been deteriorating since a Canadian company sent around 100 shipping containers that included rotting rubbish wrongly labelled as recyclables to Philippine ports in 2013 and 2014.
Manila set a May 15 deadline for Canada to take the rotting trash back, after President Rodrigo Duterte berated Ottawa over the issue last month.
Canada has since said it is working to arrange for the containers' return, but has not said when exactly that might happen.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin said letters recalling the ambassador and consuls to Canada have been sent and the diplomats would be in Manila "in a day or so".
"Canada missed the May 15 deadline. And we shall maintain a diminished diplomatic presence in Canada until its garbage is ship-bound there," Locsin wrote on Twitter.
Canada's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
For your sweet attention YB Minister Yeo Bee Yin.
Methinks it may be time for you to recommend to PM Mahathir to do a 'Duterte' vis-a-vis Lynas.
And as Maddy dislikes Aussies, your proposal may find warm reception, wakakaka.
Totally different situation which cannot be compared.
ReplyDeleteThe Phillipines shipments were tantamount to fraud, because the imported items were declared as something else. If they had been truthfully declared as waste, it would have been impossible to be imported.
As the victim of fraudulent transactions, the Phillipines government has legitimate claim to ship the rubbish back to its origin.
For Lynas in Kuantan, the factory received a duly approved Operating License from the Ah Jib Gor Administration.
It was all kosher under the legal power of the Malaysian Government, though it is undeniable that it was bulldozed through in spite of serious objections from so many people.
No doubt the PH Government now needs to find a solution to the
festering and mountainous waste issue, but there cannot be an arbitrary action on this , that would be highly damaging to Malaysia's standing as an foreign investment destination.
More rubbish (this time literally) left behind by Jibby. 1 trillion debt, 37B unreturned GST refunds, red files galore, 1MDB, TH, Yapeim, Gas pipelines, ECRL, Mindef land swaps, Bandar Malaysia, Felda, 4B KWAP money “siphoned off” by SRC etc. No wonder with these almost daily shocking revelations of the mess left behind by Jibby our stock market and ringgit are under pressure. Nobody knows what will be uncovered next.
ReplyDeleteOf course we need to shut down Lynas, but that means foreign investor’s confidence in Malaysia will be affected. People will blame Harapan but it was Jibby’s fault for allowing Lynas in in the first place.
Wakakakaka…
ReplyDeleteA better suggestion is to wait for Oz Labour party to form the new govt. This will be before the Sept date of lynas license expiry.
Then send a strong delegate to talk to the new Oz govt to either take back the radioactive wastes or lynas goes back to mt weld!
Ah, politiking on the Lynas issue again.
ReplyDeleteIf the State Govt., where land comes under their jurisdiction and where the wastes/trash are dumped, is not bothered about the environment and the health issues and thinks jobs and investment are more important, then it would be better to let the people who voted for their State Govt. to live with the risks and their environment.
In fact, the Federal Govt. and their Ministries should facilitate such great investments and jobs creation by letting the State Govt. take in more trash and waste which other states or countries do not want.
Any problem to that?