On Saturday, May 4, Indonesian authorities went on nationwide television with great fanfare to sink 51 foreign ships at five ports across the archipelago, including 28 Vietnamese-flagged boats, six Malaysian, two Chinese and one from the Philippines. Those two sunken Chinese ships, a small part of the total Chinese vessels and Indonesian ones leased […]

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 24) — Drawing criticisms from his home country, President Rodrigo Duterte has earned the praises of the Chinese media for his policy of restraint on the South China Sea dispute. A column published on Global Times, China’s national English-language newspaper, commended Duterte’s fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) for […]

THE Philippines is considering a bizarre new move to push back China’s claims over the South China Sea. The country is looking at inviting tourists to its biggest and most strategically important outpost in the disputed sea. Thitu Island, also known as Pagasa, is in the midst of major upgrades to its dilapidated facilities as […]

  MANILA, Philippines — China is both in “possession” and “in position” at the South China Sea. This was the clarification made by Malacañang on Wednesday after security officials said China is just “in position” at the disputed sea and not “in possession” as said by President Rodrigo Duterte during his fourth State of the […]

Since early July, Chinese and Vietnamese vessels have been engaged in a tense standoff over natural gas resources in waters off the coast of southern Vietnam. The ongoing confrontation is just one incident in a pattern of increasingly assertive Chinese behavior in the South China Sea, and while no shots have been fired so far, […]

MANILA, Philippines — Freedom of navigation and overflight operations of naval powers in the South China Sea serve as an advantage for the Philippines, Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said Friday. Speaking at a forum on the West Philippine Sea, Carpio noted that several countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, Japan, India […]

MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday said the Philippines is “not in the position” to assert its rights in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) because China “is in possession” of it. Wrong, said Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio. “China is not in possession […]

  MANILA, Philippines — Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Monday refuted President Rodrigo Duterte’s claim that China is in possession of the West Philippine Sea. He said China occupies only the seven artificial islands in the Kalayaan Island Group (Spratly Islands), Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, and Sandy Cay, which covers less than 10 […]

SOUTH KOREA’s defence ministry has confirmed its military fired warning shots after Russian and Chinese aircraft violated its airspace on Tuesday. The warning shots were fired after Russian military jets intruded into the Republic of Korea’s airspace. The confrontation comes after the Putin-Kim summit, where Russia has stepped up its economic ties with North Korea. […]

“Free and open access to the South and East China Seas is critical to both regional security and international commerce…Through its illegitimate efforts to build and militarize islands in the region, the Chinese Communist Party has aggressively attempted to control these critical waterways and undermined international law. This legislation makes clear that any individual or […]