On April 26, France’s defense shipbuilding company DCNS secured a victory in winning, against Japan and Germany, a long-awaited $40 billion Australian submarine deal. It may not come as a surprise to anyone who has been following France’s growing interest in the Asia-Pacific for the past five years. Since President François Hollande’s 2012 election, the […]
China’s lawless conduct in the South China Sea, which continues to heighten regional tensions, is hard to ignore. It is indispensable for the United States, Japan and other nations concerned to persistently point out the illegitimacy of China’s conduct to the international community. China recently had a military aircraft landing and taking off from a […]
China has said it will never “bully” small countries, nor will it tolerate “blackmail” on the South China Sea issue. The statement from the Foreign Ministry comes in response to claims from the Philippines that it initiated arbitration as it was unable to solve maritime delimitation disputes with China through dialogue due to, what it […]
A Reuters report on Friday, May 6, cited Hong Lei as saying that “those who expect that the arbitration could compel China to yield or make it an accomplished fact are doomed to be disillusioned. The arbitration is illegal and invalid whatever it will be. China will reject and will never acknowledge it.” Lei made […]
In an expected turn of events, some 300 Chinese legal experts unanimously agreed to refute the territorial dispute unilaterally filed by the Philippines before the international tribunal. The two countries have been embroiled in territorial dispute over the vast South China Sea to which China claims 90 percent of the area. Other than the Philippines, […]
What the United States has done has seriously eroded the authority, seriousness and effectiveness of the international law, said a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman. The spokesman, Lu Kang, made the statement at a regular press briefing Monday in response to what the former U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that it would be a “dangerous […]
On April 29, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a joint press conference in Beijing during which they strongly opposed the deployment of a THAAD anti-missile defense system in South Korea by the United States as well as outside interference by non-claimants in the South China Sea (SCS) territorial […]
Nations’ rival territorial claims in region hindering efforts to increase cooperation, say observers Red tape and conflicting sovereignty interests are hindering efforts to set up a coastguard code of conduct in the South China Sea, despite the rising risk of confrontation, observers said. They said part of the problem was that coastguards often fell under […]
The Chinese are set to consolidate their control over the South China Sea with their final and most controversial round of island building right up against the Philippines. The fishermen of Hainan Island are the forward guards in China’s battle to take all of the South China Sea. Operating as a guerrilla force and under […]
HAVING MADE a “rebalancing” toward Asia a pillar of his foreign policy, President Obama may face a fateful test from China in his final months in office. President Xi Jinping already broke a promise he made to Mr. Obama not to militarize islets his regime has been building up in two parts of the South […]