MANILA, Philippines — Chinese warships have been recently spotted passing through unannounced within Philippine territorial waters, the military said Wednesday. Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana said two Chinese warships were spotted in Sibutu Strait by the Philippine Navy on separate occasions in July and three more in August. “It was not an […]
Revisionists claim that China is not war-like, that it never invades neighbors, like the Malays. History belies that. In 1293 Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty tried to subjugate Java, seat of the emergent Majapahit Empire, now part of Indonesia. In the past 2,000 years China has coveted surrounding riches. Kublai Khan dispatched 30,000 foot […]
Philippine Vice-President Leni Robredo said citizens were worried Rodrigo Duterte was “selling out” to Beijing and called on the president to take a stronger stand to protect the country’s sovereignty in the disputed South China Sea. Robredo, who is keeping her options open regarding the presidential race in 2022, said in an interview on […]
Even if China and the US agree on new trade terms, the view in Washington has fundamentally changed. The U.S.-China trade war that began last year continues to drag on as a long-term war of attrition. Negotiators ended their latest round of talks at the end of July with few results, and each side rang […]
The main focus of U.S. defense strategy has shifted from defeating violent extremists—terrorists—to opposing aggression by other great powers. Those other powers are understood to be China and Russia. Pentagon planners now spend much of their time figuring out how to deter Russian adventurism in Europe, and Chinese expansionism in Asia. The general thinking is […]
Ten weeks of protests, some huge, a few violent, culminated Monday with a shutdown of the Hong Kong airport. Ominously, Beijing described the violent weekend demonstrations as “deranged” acts that are “the first signs of terrorism,” and vowed a merciless crackdown on the perpetrators. China is being pushed toward a decision it does not […]
WASHINGTON — For two and a half years, President Trump has said he is finally doing in Asia what he asserts his predecessor, Barack Obama, failed to achieve with a strategic pivot: strengthen American influence and rally partners to push back against China. But as violence escalates and old animosities are rekindled across Asia, […]
MANILA, Philippines – Recent developments in the West Philippine Sea showed that China’s expansive claim to the area has remained unchanged despite friendlier ties with the Philippines under President Rodrigo Duerte. On Thursday, August 15, Rappler editor-at-large Marites Vitug talks to Bill Hayton of Chatham House – or the Royal Institute of International Affairs […]
MANILA – Eighteen more fishermen have opted to withdraw a writ of kalikasan petition before the Supreme Court, based on a filing by their counsel the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) on Wednesday. In its submission to the high court, the IBP said its lawyers were able to talk to 2 more fisherfolk […]
President Duterte’s oft-repeated assertion that we risk war if we push back China’s aggressive encroachments on our waters is a phantom fear. Given China’s deep-seated sense of self-identity as Zhong Guo — the center of the world — and its current thrusting on the world’s stage as a superpower, it is not likely that it […]