How China seeks to shape maritime law to legitimize its claims. A year and a half ago, the contested South China Sea (SCS) was awash in international intrigues and legal maneuverings. On December 7, 2014, two days after the U.S. State Department released Washington’s legal views on Beijing’s disputed nine-dash line (NDL) claim in the […]

China and the Philippines, after the arbitration decision, could settle the issues by taking account of the decision without formally mentioning it. Illustration: Craig Stephens International tensions are rising rapidly as D-Day approaches in the Philippines arbitration case against China. Increasingly anxious, Beijing is resorting to a full-court press in the propaganda realm, seeking to […]

MANILA, Philippines – Chinese pressure was blamed Thursday for a stunning diplomatic U-turn by Southeast Asian Nations that saw them retract a statement sounding alarm over Beijing’s island building in the South China Sea. The chaotic events at the end of a meeting of foreign ministers from China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian […]

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Indonesian President Joko Widodo called a strategically important meeting with his security and political affairs minister this week over how the normally neutral Asian archipelago should handle increasing foreign pressure on its maritime claims. The minister, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, learned from the Monday meeting that government leaders […]

KUALA LUMPUR – Southeast Asian countries withdrew a statement that expressed the region’s deep concerns over tension in the South China Sea, where China is involved in protracted territorial disputes with some of its neighbors. The strongly-worded statement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), released by the Malaysian foreign ministry, did not name […]

BEIJING — Even before a ruling, China may have lost by refusing to cooperate with a UN arbitration tribunal over its South China Sea claims. Yet Beijing seems prepared to absorb the cost to its reputation, confident that in terms of territory and resources, it won’t lose a thing. Despite pressure from Washington and elsewhere, […]

A Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy Type 815 Dongdiao-class spy ship entered Japanese territorial waters on Wednesday, according to Japan’s defense ministry. The move is the first of its kind since 2004, when a Chinese nuclear submarine entered Japan’s 12 nautical mile territorial sea near Sakishima Islands, in Okinawa prefecture. According to a Kyodo News report […]

The looming ruling of the International Tribunal in The Hague on the complaint filed by the Philippines against China concerning islands in the West Philippines Sea (South China Sea) will bring peace between countries, incoming Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque said. Roque made the prediction in his speech at the Asian Society of International Law (AsianSIL) […]

During the latest edition of Shangri-La Dialogue, which gathers defense ministers and leading experts from around the world in Singapore annually, I couldn’t but not notice that the Philippines’ arbitration case against China was a major theme in formal and informal exchanges among participants. Though we got among the weakest armed forces in Southeast Asia, […]

A meeting in China of foreign ministers from Southeast Asian nations over the South China Sea ended in confusion after Malaysia released and then retracted a joint statement expressing “serious concerns” over developments in the disputed waterway. The disarray raises fresh questions about unity within the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ahead of an […]