Monthly Archives: June 2014

A National Strategy for the South China Sea

Abstract The United States should develop and promulgate a National Strategy for the South China Sea (NSSCS) as part of its ongoing efforts to counter Chinese aggression in the region and to resolve the disputes there in a peaceful manner. It behooves the United States to shift its current posture in the South China Sea […]

China mulls over new base near PH

The South China Morning Post based in Hong Kong reported on Saturday that China plans to create a military base in the Kalayaan Island Group, a move that is seen to further increase the tension in the ongoing territorial dispute between China and the Philippines. The KIG is located near Palawan, and has been declared […]

The Operation of the HYSY 981 Drilling Rig: Vietnam’s Provocation and China’s Position

On 2 May 2014, a Chinese company’s HYSY 981 drilling rig started its drilling operation inside the contiguous zone of China’s Xisha Islands (see Annex 1/5 for the locations of operation) for the purpose of oil and gas exploration. With the first phase of the operation completed, the second phase began on 27 May. The […]

PH Justice Carpio debunks China’s historical claim of South China Sea

Using China’s very own ancient maps, Justice Antonio T. Carpio debunked the Asian superpower’s ownership claims of almost the whole of South China Sea based on “historical facts.” In lecture at De La Salle University “Historical Facts, Historical Lies and Historical Rights in the West Philippine Sea,” Carpio took up China’s invitation to look at […]

Justice Carpio delivers lecture in DLSU, deconstructs China’s territorial claims

Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio gave a lecture on the West Philippine Sea on Friday, June 6, at the Henry Sy, Sr. Hall. Entitled “Historical Facts, Historical Lies, and Historical Rights in the West Philippine Sea,” the lecture centered in on Carpio’s scholarly research regarding China’s historical basis of sovereignty over disputed […]

Carpio: China’s invasion is armed aggression

International law trumps China’s claims, Carpio says MANILA (UPDATED) – China’s invasion and occupation of Mischief Reef in 1995 and Scarborough Shoal in 2012 are acts of armed aggression against the Philippines that violate the United Nations Charter, according to Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio. Carpio, in a recent speech before the Philippine Women’s […]

COLUMN-China’s Nine Dash Line and the Law of the Sea: Kemp

(Reuters) – Territorial disputes over tiny islands and reefs in the South China Sea are poisoning relations between China and its neighbours in Southeast Asia. “In recent months, China has undertaken destabilising, unilateral actions asserting its claims in the South China Sea,” U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told an audience in Singapore last month. “(China) […]

G7 ‘deeply concerned’ at tensions in East, South China Seas

(Reuters) – Group of Seven leaders expressed their concern about tensions between China and a number of other Asian countries over resources in the East and South China Seas and warned against any use of force. “We are deeply concerned by tensions in the East and South China Sea. We oppose any unilateral attempt by […]

Better war of words than clashes at sea

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue last week, Lieutenant-General Wang Guanzhong dropped a proverbial bomb in the Island Ballroom. Halfway through his 38-minute speech, the deputy chief of general staff of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) accused Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and United States Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel of “coordinating” and “supporting” one another […]

Vietnam Mulls Taking China to Maritime Arbitration Court – See more at: http://www.asiabriefing.com/news/2014/06/vietnam-mulls-taking-china-maritime-arbitration-court/#sthash.nHxPZvRs.dpuf

HANOI – Following in the footsteps of the Philippines, Vietnam is considering taking China to an international maritime court to resolve a simmering dispute over contested waters in the South China Sea (also known as the East Sea by Vietnam). Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has stated that Vietnam is contemplating a series of […]