king charles the 3rd nor from king charles's office and household at buckingham palace. and that is because, according to royal experts, the view has been taken that the best way to deal with these allegations and repeated control the scenes arising from the media coverage. in the run up the publication of the book, there was a big netflix documentary of the christmas period, for instance, is to take on a policy of no comment. this is the latest in a string of control. this is, as i said, the date back not just to the marriage of henry and meghan, but to harry's exit from the royal family. indeed his exit from this country fleeing media coverage and the behavior allegedly of his own family. there was an interview in 2021 with the us talk show host, oprah winfrey that alleged racism against the royal family amplified in the netflix documentary, there was talk of a miscarriage suffered by megan as a result of stress of immediate coverage. and then her thoughts about suicide. now, this latest allegation, of course, raising the temperature or not sure to alleging violence by the air to the throat

against his brother. well, we'll have to see how long that policy of no comments survives in the run up the publication of the book next week, john a hole in london. thank you. ah, no, again, i'm fully battle with the headlines on al jazeera israel has released along is held palestinian prisoner who had been in detention for 40 years. carry nunez is also in israeli citizen. he was convicted in 1983 for killing and israel soldier in the golan heights. he was initially condemned to life imprisonment, but his sentence was later commuted. israel refused to free him in a palestinian prisoner release, came negotiated in 2013 by the u. s. but his my whole life the give her cape yes or no? no, but i have a lot of feelings in my wars. don't know how to express. it is the 1st time in 40 years to see the trees in the grass,

and i used to see all the walls and cement. but today i saw a lot of different things. i entered so many houses and i sat down on a sofa for the 1st time and for 2 years i got a very strange feeling when i 1st entered my brother's car, to the extent that i didn't know how to sit properly. it is a mix of feelings and emotions to see the sky without bars for the 1st time and for 2 years there were mother. both francis has led a funeral mass for his predecessor pub emeritus benedict the 16th thousands of people gathering faint p. this way at the vatican to pay their final respects. the former pope died at a vatican monastery on saturday at the age of 90. 5 benedict will be buried in a crypt. had st. peter's basilica in the u. s. a governor of california has declared a state of emergency after a powerful storm cut electricity to thousands of homes in the north. roads have been flooded and trees up hooted in sacramento authorities over triple to evacuate if they live in coastal areas vulnerable to much slides. m 23 rebels say they are

withdrawing from another town in eastern democratic republic of congo. this of withdrawal from women gabble follows an announcement about the departure of fighters from nearby cuba. the congolese army called that a sham and the european union has recommended passengers from china be tested for covey 19 before they fly to you, member countries. officials are urging all travelers to wear masks, se se passengers should be randomly tested for the virus. those are the headlines inside stories next. ah, the philippine president further, marcos junior is in china. he wants to improve economic and political ties with

beijing and china is hoping to woo him away from washington to what's at stake in this trip. this is inside story. ah hello there and welcome to the program. i'm laura kyle. the philippines and china have had a mixed relationship over the years. the next stage of which both sides are looking to shape during present rather than marcos as juniors visit to be jang mozilla has historically been a close ally of the us. but that relationship cooled somewhat. and the last philippine president adrica tirty, who forged closer ties with beijing, china is the philippines most important trading partner. but they have significant

differences to such as beijing's activities in the disputed south china sea. where's the philippines has called illegal? china, for its part says the visit will focus on regional and international issues of common concern. present. marcus says he's looking forward to increasing economic cooperation a. the next 2 years. b r a or a b r a b, a shot with our correspondent, katrina you is in beijing. she tells us what each side as hoping to get out of this trap. macos a 3 day visit to china, the 1st of 2023 included meetings, the, china's head of the national people congress lead done to the premier league chunk

and chinese president. she didn't ping it out. it's been a rocky relationship for these 2 countries over the past few years. but board slides has said that this visit marks a new chapter in the bilateral relationship. they both lead to increased cooperation in a variety of areas including economic growth and trade technology, infrastructure, energy, culture and tourism. and for both countries, much is at stake. this visit comes amid infrastructure and energy crisis for the philippines. and from manila, china is that top trading pond and also a major source of tourism and foreign direct investment they gene. well, manila is of huge strategic importance, which philippines is the closest country to taiwan, which beijing sees as a rome chinese territory. the philippines also has historically very close ties to the united states and aging is wanting to work to do whatever it can to minimize washington improvement in the region. now there are 2 very major points of

disagreement which threatened to derail these ties. the 1st is a south china sea trying to claim much of this disputed territory. despite the fact that an international court invalidated these claims in 2016 in favor of the philippines. but despite this aging, had continued to build artificial islands in the region. and the philippines was also complains about chinese ships for swarming and intimidating filipino fishing boats. the 2nd point of contention is military ties with the united states. in november, us vice president come on, harris visited manila and asked to expand the us military presence in the country. and this issue has very much anger. katrina you out there in beijing for insights, doing well, let's take a closer look at the maritime dispute that katrina mentioned. just the china claims, nearly the hi at south china sea as its territorial waters. but 6 other countries including the philippines dispute. this in 2016, the hague,

ruled in favor of the philippines and against beijing's assertion, it owns the vast maritime area. manila had taken legal action against china, accusing it of unlawfully reclaiming land in waters around the sprightly islands. the area is estimated to have trillions of dollars worth of oil and gas under it. c bad. ah, that's bringing our guests now. and in beijing, andy mach, senior research fellow at the center for china and at globalization. in manila, marita be took as to at large with the news website wrapper and author of rock solid. how the philippines, one it's maritime case against china and in columbia, east son oh, senior director of that, the singapore institute of international affairs, a very warm welcome to all of you and the let's start with you because she is just recently told markov in beijing that china is ready to resume oil and gas talks and handle maritime issues in a, quote,

friendly and consultative manner. does that mean that for china, a line has been drawn on to this issue and it's not a problem anymore? well i think clearly as in so many complex issues, laura, the devil is in the details. that being said, i think both sides are very ready to take this bilateral relationship to the next level. as president marcos has said he wants to go to a higher gear the chinese side see this as a hopefully ushering in golden era of china philippines relations. and of course, i think ideally any outstanding issues, any areas that need to be further clarified should be worked out as a part of that. so marita, how does mar course want to take the relationship to the next level? how does it want to deal with this dispute?

i think mark was, is really trying to balance the relations of the philippi. i between china and the us. this is up when you look at the pendulum while when former president bear, there was an office for the past 6 years, whether it be with it from the china now with mark or to try to reach out to both china and the u. s. and he already said yes, given strong statement saying that the phillip use will not see any will not be an inch of its very sorry august that we did without naming china. but that was his strong message in july when he assumed the presidency. so i think he's is trying to balance the relations between the 2 powers isn't oh, how difficult line is that for marcos to tread between repelling territorial unwanted territorial claims by china in the south china sea but also wanting

chinese investment well cars just like what was said just now, namely, mark ross was trying to balance between the united states and china is also at the same time trying to balance on the one hand is on a territorial dispute to china, on china. see on the nose with west b, c's on the one hand and on the other hand, trying to attract as my char chinese investment into the philippines and in a sense, in larger, definitely been a freight, china as possible. so indeed, it is a very delicate balance, and i think this is the same sort of dilemma which a number of middle east asia, nations are facing nowadays. on the one hand, they are very part of this music. china. on the other hand, of course,

they're well chinese investments and trade. so andy, when, when she present, she says that he wants to handle these maritime issues and a friendly and consultative manner. what does that mean? because right now you've got a situation in the south china sea where we've got chinese boats harassing fishermen that are not chinese, that philippines or vietnamese or even malaysian. we've also got chinese coast guard present, preventing the philippines bringing supplies to a ship, which i hope we'll talk about little bit more later. so what is it suggesting that's going to change its tone talking about the south china sea? i think it exactly is the root cause that these issues are in dispute that leads to these misunderstandings and misperceptions as well or that are being exacerbated by external parties looking to drive

a wedge between china, philippine really and seaman will certainly western media, i think, is is one, i think other countries like the united states. however, i do think that the opportunity for the philippines here, i believe president marco's phrase did as friends all enemy to 9. in that it is not a narry choice. choosing between the u. s. or china, and i think even china has repeatedly says that it does not see the world in these cold war binary manage she in terms of that it's complex, doubles in the details and ok, well, let me begin to details a little bit more. murray. because when andy says that the western media is one x tunnel factor, the looking to drive

a wedge between the philippines and china. do you agree with that? no, i don't think so. because in the in 28th, in 2016 robert philip, me for ready warn international or retail tried, you know, it was very clear that the case when decided by the international bread, you know, the south trying to see that china 9 dash line claim has no historical nor legal basis, i think that's the starting point, but which china refuses to recognise and then repeat the said they will not pick up nice this international decision in the meantime. what it means and china during the barrett this year or have arrived a certain verbal agreement. so allow filipinos who fish in spar brochure, which is actually quite the philippines exclusive economic dawn and also not to

build oraclean on. i'm occupied either steps. there are some agreements already has been made. i think the big best for mark was really in the oil and gas exploration because that's where the philippines will face. crises. energy crisis is the next 3 to 5 years. and the philippines will need to survey and, and drill rather for oil and gas in read back. just confessed that area. it's part of the film soon, but try nice disputing it. ok, so you know, that is a key issue in this energy crisis. the whole world is facing, do you think the philippines is going to be able to dig to explore for new oil and gas in this contested area? but typically the sub is asian countries are we talk about explorations all power and gas typically. ready we do it in conjunction with a number of very establish and guess, conglomerates in the world,

the shelves of beliefs and so on. so when, well, when other countries try to do so, for example, malaysia, vietnam tried to do so. china cause was not very happy and typically they. ready were in here, so it remains to be seen to what extent is this it by macros, junior, who china, you interfere with billy beans or i guess the exploration all on the other hand, some sort of deal be made between china and the philippines. such that you will be the chinese conglomerates and guest rates, which would do those collaboration with the filipino counterparts in the exploring the wine. guess i will be very interested to see whether such a precedent would be made with the philippines except that the chinese conglomerate

. i'm needing the way you know that there have been negotiations for many years and they've reached at the end. because according to the philippine constitution, it's the philippines partners with a chinese state on enterprise or a chinese company. this chinese company will have the knowledge philippine suffering writes over a read back the oil and gas resources there. and so these to each dead. and because when be in the last year of the fair, this was the china refused to sign the proposed oil and gas development me to philip. because of that precise provision for vision were in the knowledge philippine sovereign rights over the area. so that's a bad end, so i don't know how marcus will proceed. i don't know if there is a new way but militia denisia were able to drill in contest that area us

using even the militia fan militia group. it's wrong that sense. it's maybe i think i'm both guard same with indonesia in as soon as i land malaysian, indonesia were able to do this without trying not to partner. so andy, do you think that she is ready to also allow the philippines to do this without china as a partner? well, i think we have to see, so this, at its heart is a diplomatic dilemma that can only be solved with diplomatic, awe, ingenuity and creativity. so we've seen this kind of our ingenuity and creativity before. look at the corner stone of the china u. s. relationship where there was a disagreement on taiwan yet a formulation was found are to let the relationship move forward. so again,

we can see it as a our dilemma. ah, but hopefully a creative breakthrough are, can be achieved, letting both sides are derived benefit from this situation. and i'm interested to know why it is that since the 2016 ruling by the u and back tribunal in the hague. china has not changed it's behavior in the south china sea. un back ruling declared that china's interest there were invalid. and yet it continues to build on islands. it continues to paced at ships. there's a why they're not respect as ruling well, i think ah, we all know that, ah, countries have various reasons for dis, ah, agreeing or not accepting. ah, these multilateral rulings, the w t o is, is a great example of that. so i think again,

the devil's in the details are we have to see what will happen from here. but of course, i think it's clear that our, for china ah, has its reasons for saying that. look, we don't think are this is an appropriate ruling that we're not ready to abide by. now i don't know what the future will hold. ah, but again, i think the most practical solution is a diplomatic one late as he wrote a book. thank how the philippines, one, it's maritime case against china. and yet it hasn't been able to move forward. hasn't been able to take action with that when, why not the philippines was able to, well, during the last of the bears, he did not use the big 3 of the philippines to sell leverage to negotiate with china. so he sort of set it aside. in fact, he called it like

a trash, a piece of trash. you know, it belongs to the been because he was really when china, the best man as a, as a disability. now let's be with president mark, or if he had said that, arbitrage ruling is one of the pillars of the philippines for and policy. so let's see if i'll far, he's waiting a 3rd, this arbitrage victory. and how far he's willing to negotiate or displease china when it comes to white and gas. but that's a very sensitive area. and that's going to be the biggest best i think in relations with china. you know, all and gas is one main part of this. fight over the south china sea and other one is fishing by rich fishing ground. also a huge amount of fish shipping goes through it. how dangerous is it to navigate these waters? the middle of these contesting claims. wow,

at the moment you. ready the soft china in the center, one of the easiest, a concentration of shipping routes in the world. so of course, because most of the ships, best thing for chinese part of course, the chinese would not interfere with them. but of course, a lot of other countries, for example, the united states and so on, those ships destined for eventually the united states. and let's say canada and so on. and the, the united states are not a good terms, a china of cause. then they are worried about the permanent pictures of china in china seas. the. ready where the sensor in dirt shipping, which are all to let me testing for the united states. as they saw the us mice,

president kind of harris visit the philippines in november. she went to an article paula paula one which is next to the contestant, sprightly islands. how provocative was that for beijing? well, i think certainly we've seen, ah, an increase in the level of provocation escalations by the united states. so i think overall, compared to say, policies visit to taiwan. other proper cations, i don't, wouldn't put it in that category, but certainly i think it does. does add to increasing tensions in the region. and of course, you know, i think the big issue is e d. c. a, we're the extended defense cooperation agreement. and what happens, which is of course related to vice president harris's visit. so clearly this

is a complex relationship. i think there is a lot of moving parts and certainly this the us words and deeds are, are an important part of this. i wanted marita to bring up the sierra madre. them found this fascinating story of a naval ship that the philippines purposely ran aground in this area back in 1999 and they claim to a reef all soldiers still on it. and if it's a tax, because it's still in commission, you could theoretically call on the us to protect it. actually, that's one of the discussion points. now, here in the philippines is when the u. s. i think the philippines are you neutral, depress treaty with the us and the u. s. s. ready said that in case of ben shawn in south china sea, where the philippines is armed,

they will come to the aid of facilities that must be made clear in precedent by did my and during president trump. so but the fill it me the 4th one to avoid any one sleep in the west, but it could be we just are part of the south trying to see that's why they feel it . clean may be convenient to resupply, share my despite the status of the ship, went binion to resupply, but china doesn't want the sand construction materials. that is one of their red lines. so the philippines is only able to supply food and water, but map construction materials. so i don't know how long this will last and what you arrange man, and mark costs come up. it is flocks. we china. there are

a number of flash points here on the east on wonder how they will play out given the new relationship. but marcos and see are hoping to, to build but a month plus family of course, long running very cold, your relationship with china. i recall seeing videos of a news traffic and so on. and now a days of a lot of sub is asian countries. the philippines included and the nation. well, we are not exactly the best off economic shapes. and unfortunately the united states and many other western countries are not in a position or are willing to. ready to invest and trade more with us. in fact the united states for example, calling up on it. ready even existing investors,

so we'll see to sort of relocate back to the united states and that also, you know, it, it, it, it put us in very difficult position. on the one hand, a number of sub is asian countries perhaps. well, some of this us freedom on navigation petros and so on, over a c, on the other hand, tells us that would have been nice. china and the united states is not investing more in the region. so this countries would need to sort of give it to work in terms of trade and investment. i am saying relationship to keep an eye on in the thank you very much all i guess for joining us today and the more communities better and eastern and thank you to for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website. that's al jazeera dot com, and to further discussion, do go to our facebook page. that's facebook dot com, forward slash ha inside story. you can also join the conversation on twitter

a hand with a j inside story from me, laura kyle and the whole team here. it's bye for now. ah and with the latest news, as if breaks, this particular sub station has been in 3 separate effects. for 6 russians we saw with detailed coverage, they had hoped that the u. s. would relax water pandemic restrictions this week, which would likely have better their odds of getting in from around the world over

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