Monthly Archives: April 2016

Timor-Leste tests the waters of UN law in maritime dispute with Australia

SINGAPORE: Timor-Leste is taking Australia to the United Nations (UN) to settle a long-running maritime border dispute by using a legal mechanism that has not been invoked before. Amid the tension of other ongoing maritime disputes in the region, particularly over the South China Sea, Timor-Leste’s Foreign Minister Hernani Coelho told Channel NewsAsia that this […]

World behind PH on maritime dispute

THERE is no backing out for the Philippine government from a petition for arbitration that it filed before a United Nations body to settle a maritime dispute with China, especially since more powerful countries are backing Manila’s stand, a Malacanang official said on Sunday. In an interview over state-run Radyo ng Bayan, Communications Secretary Herminio […]

‘Leave Taiping issue alone’

A member of Taiwan’s coast guard speaks as he guides visiting journalists on Taiping island in the Spratlys chain in the South China Sea. Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou is appealing to the Permanent Court of Arbitration – expected to rule on the South China Sea dispute next month or in June – to “leave the […]

Editorial: Back to the Philippines

America is dusting off a military alliance with the Philippines that languished in the back of the closet for decades. You can practically hear them at the Pentagon trying it on for size: Hey, how’d we ever forget about this great thing? A glance at a map of Asia, and recent headlines, shows why the […]

U.S. says China’s intentions in South China Sea raise tension and questions

REUTERS/U.S. NAVY/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS A top U.S. official on Thursday said China’s land reclamation and militarization in the disputed South China Sea was raising tensions and serious questions about its intention. On a visit to Vietnam, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington would continue to play a constructive role in supporting its […]