Thanks to a land reclamation project on a set of rocks and reefs in the middle of the sea, M. Taylor Fravel’s research is much in demand these days. His research isn’t about marine biology or civil engineering, however. Fravel’s analysis is sought out because the sea in question is the South China Sea and […]
Amidst the media buzz, the recent announcement by Washington to fly P-8 maritime surveillance flights out of Singapore needs to be viewed in perspective. There has been quite a bit of media buzz over the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) inked just recently between Singapore and the United States. Even though the joint statement promulgated […]
FILE – In this Friday, April 17, 2015 file photo, protesters display placards during a rally at the Chinese Consulate at the financial district of Makati city, east of Manila, Philippines to protest moves by China in “fortifying” its claims at the disputed Spratlys Islands in the South China Sea. China’s campaign of island building […]
Use the slider to see construction at Subi Reef September 2015July 2012 Images: CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative / DigitalGlobe Last year the BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes travelled across the South China Sea in a fishing boat and became the first journalist to observe close-up how China is constructing new islands on coral reefs. A few […]
China’s new military reform measures, intended to “give more power to lower-level authorities,” are likely to increase the threat of conflict with its neighbors and with the United States – in ways both obvious and more subtle. First, to the extent the reforms succeed in making the People’s Liberation Army more effective and “capable of […]
America’s move to deploy the P-8 Poseidon spy plane in Singapore amid South China Sea tensions was aimed at militarizing the area, China’s foreign ministry said, according to reports on Wednesday. The United States agreed Monday to deploy the surveillance plane for the first time in Singapore for “maritime security efforts.” China’s foreign ministry said […]
From November 24 to 30, the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) convened in The Hague to hear oral arguments on merit in the The Republic of Philippines v The People’s Republic of China case over competing claims in the South China Sea. After ruling at the end of October that the international tribunal had […]
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is cooperating with other countries in Asia to ensure there is no conflict or power struggle over the South China Sea. Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Naina Merican said all the countries including Brunei, the Phillipines, Vietnam, China and Malaysia, are responsible to ensure the peace and stability in the South […]
The United States has agreed with Singapore on a first deployment of the US P8 Poseidon spy plane in Singapore this month, in a fresh response to China over its pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea. In a joint statement after a meeting in Washington on Monday, the US defense secretary, Ash […]
Many of us were at least mildly encouraged this October when the USS Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer, sailed within twelve nautical miles of Subi Reef, one of the man-made “islands” — actually, they’re military installations — that China has built upon reefs hundreds of miles out into the South China Sea. The US Navy guided-missile […]