China and Vietnam have pledged to be “good neighbours” and agreed to maintain peace in the South China Sea. It comes at the end of a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first of its kind for a decade. The two sides agreed to avoid any acts that complicate their dispute in the […]
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said on Friday (November 6) that the position of the Philippines to use international law to resolve territorial disputes in the South China Sea could have been strengthened if only the recent Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) defense ministers meeting managed to issue a […]
Subi reef, located in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, is shown in this handout Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative satellite image taken September 3, 2015 and released to Reuters October 27, 2015. REUTERS/CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative/DigitalGlobe/Handout via Reuters Subi reef, located in the disputed […]
As tension mounts in the South China Sea over the US military’s recent patrol challenging China’s territorial claims there, speculation has centered on what action Japan may take in the region. Japan “currently has no such plan” to send the SDF to the South China Sea Japan currently has no plan to send Self-Defense Forces […]
Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) and Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (right) wave as they leave the Presidential Palace for the Headquarters of the Vietnam Communist Party for official talks in Hanoi on November 5, 2015. Photo: Hoang Dinh Nam/Reuters Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Vietnam this week, the first […]
In yesterday’s post, we asked “What did the Navy do in the South China Sea?” That wasn’t a rhetorical question. The Department of Defense hadn’t yet clearly explained what the USS Lassen did during its recent freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in the South China Sea. Nor has it explained the precise legal basis for […]
The Chinese government injected funds into Nanjing University to carry out research on South China Sea issues. With the funds, the university has established the Collaborative Innovation Center of South China Sea Studies. Zhu Feng, once a professor at Peking University’s School of International Studies, was tapped for the center’s executive director position and Wu […]
MANILA (UPDATED WITH VIDEO)- Whoever succeeds President Benigno Aquino III should uphold the country’s claims against China over territories in the West Philippine Sea or end up a laughingstock, Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said. Carpio said while there is no legal impediment to a “conciliatory” president withdrawing the case the country has filed against […]
On October 29th, in a unanimous decision, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague issued its first, preliminary ruling concerning whether the Tribunal has ‘jurisdiction’ over the issues raised by the Philippines against China’s so called ‘nine-dash line’ in the South China Sea. The Tribunal held that in about half of the Philippines’ fifteen […]
US defence secretary Ash Carter has visited an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea’s contested waters, in what is seen as a signal to China. He called his visit to the USS Theodore Roosevelt “a symbol” of America’s stabilising presence in the region. Mr Carter said any concern over his visit was due to […]