In a bid to maintain its sovereignty in the region, Indonesia announced on Wednesday evening that it will seek to change the name of the South China Sea to the Natuna Sea in the area within 200 miles of its Natuna Islands. Ahmad Santosa, the Chief of Task Force 115, an agency combating illegal fishing, […]

SUPREME Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio yesterday pushed for the declaration by claimant countries of the Spratly group of islands as a marine protected area for 100 years to preserve its fragile marine ecosystem and allow fish stocks and other marine resources to replenish. Carpio made the appeal during the Forum on the Environmental […]

China’s response to The Hague’s recent South China Sea arbitration ruling has been mixed. Despite negative rhetoric to the press and some military posturing, Beijing has—for the moment—avoided some of the more incendiary possible responses, such as conducting land reclamation around Scarborough Shoal, and has indicated a willingness to renew dialogue with Manila. The United […]

Whether he wins or loses the US presidency next November, Donald Trump has already come up with one of the defining slogans of 2016 – “Make America great again”. Trump’s vision of an America in precipitous decline is all-encompassing. At home, he points to falling living standards for many Americans and the disappearance of well-paid […]

Japan will develop a new land-to-sea missile as part of plans to beef up its defence of remote southern islands, as tensions with China increase over the disputed territory, The two countries are locked in a long-running dispute over the uninhabited islets known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. The report […]

Overfishing in Chinese rivers and seas has seriously depleted stocks and the government is to cut the size of the nation’s fishing fleet, the agricultural ministry said. A well-known fishermen in Tanmen, Hainan province, said local fishermen have been told not to increase their fleet while counterparts in other provinces have been told to cut […]

Making the resource-rich Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea open to fisherman from both Beijing and Manila could help reduce the growing tensions between the two nations brought about by maritime territorial dispute. This was the statement of Wu Schicun, president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, after talks with Former […]

The future of the global maritime commons and the Asian balance of power is at stake in the South China Sea. It’s valuable real estate: half of the world’s commercial shipping and $5 trillion of goods passes through it, connecting the world’s fastest growing economies. Beyond the economic and strategic value of the South China […]

JUDGING by fresh reports, China won’t be folding to stern threats over the South China Sea any time soon. In a bold move that would be sure to raise tensions, the emerging superpower may be ramping up its attempt to reclaim the Scarborough Shoal, a key disputed territory in the area. On the weekend, the […]

The upcoming G20 summit provides China a unique chance to chance to demonstrate China’s “good intentions” as a responsible stakeholder. To facilitate the summit, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited India over the weekend for strategic communications with Indian side. According to Wang, China and India reached an important consensus that both states should firmly […]