CANBERRA—A new Pentagon report saying that China’s reclamation activities and construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea increased dramatically during the past few months has aroused widespread fears that the landgrab would derail diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving rival claims through United Nations arbitration. The report, released last August, pointed out that as […]
The dialogue here covered a range of issues of mutual interest, including exchange of perspectives on maritime security and prospects for maritime cooperation between the two countries, the External Affairs Ministry said. It said developments in international regimes such as UNCLOS (UN Convention on the Law of the Sea) and IMO (International .. Read more […]
The upcoming US-ASEAN summit on February 15-16 in Rancho Mirage, California provides an opportunity for the Obama administration to boldly demonstrate its rebalance towards Asia, and for the U.S. Senate to assert America’s national interests by ratifying the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Since the ten countries that make up ASEAN […]
Not long before the destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur recently conducted freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS) off the Chinese-occupied Paracel Islands, an interesting maritime exercise took place in waters off southern mainland China. The images released in the public domain are interesting to note; many of the ships have hull numbers that carry the prefix 湛渔, […]
Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, asserted his country’s claim on Taiping, or Itu Aba, in the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea, by taking a day trip to the mostly barren rock formation on January 28, 2016. United States and Philippine officials were quick to issue disapproving statements regarding Ma’s first visit to Itu Aba […]
The United States is considering the possibility of holding joint maritime patrols with the Philippines in the disputed South China Sea (West Philippine Sea). “We do discuss that principle with the Philippines and so I am not discarding that possibility,” US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg said in a forum on Wednesday. He, however, […]
The Japanese government is to spend Y13 billion (HK$838.3 million) on rebuilding facilities on Okinotorishima, a tiny atoll 1,740 km south of Tokyo that helps to extend Japan’s exclusive economic zone into the Pacific Ocean. The tiny land mass is only above water because two parts of the coral reef have been protected by concrete […]
China claims the sailing of a U.S. Navy warship on Saturday into what it calls its territory was needless provocation and an attempt at causing trouble amongst China’s neighbors. What precedent is there for these close calls in disputed maritime territories to escalate? How close was this close call? Had things in fact calmed down […]