A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves: ——— EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a weekly look at the latest developments in […]

President Duterte has warned China against drilling for oil and other resources in the West Philippine Sea, saying it could lead to war. West Philippine Sea is the local name of the waters within the Philippines’ 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone in the heavily disputed South China Sea. China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, […]

It’s about Beijing’s ambitions, not about concerns over America’s FONOPs. People’s Republic of China (PRC) government-affiliated academic Hu Bo published an essay entitled “No One Lost the South China Sea (And No One Will)” in The National Interest on August 20. That article makes a relatively sophisticated defense of Beijing’s agenda in this maritime territorial […]

HANOI: A Vietnamese website, which only works when users correctly answer a quiz about disputed islands in the South China Sea, has infuriated scores of television fans in China desperate to catch the latest episode of a popular Chinese period drama. The drama – “The Story of Yanxi Palace” – has attracted a huge following […]

Over the South China Sea (CNN)One by one, the naval aviators and journalists lost contact with the outside world, dropping our cell phones into a large black bag. For the next eight hours, we would be monitoring and documenting Chinese military buildup in the South China Sea, and those we’re watching could use those cell […]

MANILA, Philippines — Beijing exercises “low-intensity coercion” to assert its claim on the South China Sea, the US Department of Defense or the Pentagon said in its annual report to the US Congress. In its report, the Pentagon noted that the People’s Liberation Army, the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) and the People’s Armed Forces Maritime […]

President Rodrigo Duterte has warned of trouble if China will monopolize the exploitation of oil and mineral deposits in the disputed South China Sea. In a speech in Cebu City on Tuesday, Duterte quipped that he will deploy Interior and Local Government officer-in-charge Eduardo Año to the strategic waterway to attack the Chinese if they […]

A country that once courted Chinese investment now fears becoming overly indebted for big projects that are neither viable nor necessary — except to China. KUANTAN, Malaysia — In the world’s most vital maritime chokepoint, through which much of Asian trade passes, a Chinese power company is investing in a deepwater port large enough to […]

The United States will be “a good ally” to the Philippines in responding to territorial conflicts in the South China Sea, a US defence official said Thursday. Randall Schriver, assistant secretary of defence for Asian and Pacific security affairs, gave the assurance as tensions rise over China’s aggressive stance towards its claims to most of […]

A COMMERCIAL transaction on a joint exploration with China in the West Philippine Sea should adopt the Malampaya model and must be done according to the Constitution, former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said. The Philippine government and the Malampaya consortium have a 60-40 sharing of revenues for the gas deposits off the shore of […]