Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) established the concept of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), an area in the sea measuring 200 miles (370 kilometers) from a country’s coast. It established special rights on the exploration and use of marine resources, such as energy from any petroleum deposits in the land under the […]

THE PENTAGON – Chinese officials are denying two U.S. warships port visits to Hong Kong amidst ongoing protests against the government in Beijing. USS Green Bay (LPD-20) and USS Lake Erie (CG-70) were denied requests to visit Hong Kong, U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Nate Christensen told USNI News on Tuesday. “The U.S. Navy has […]

  INTERNATIONAL – Cambodia and China have struck an agreement for the increase of purchases within the arms trade. China has agreed to invest $290 million to expand its military presence in Cambodia. The MOU signed, will give China access to the Cambodian naval base, and the rights to the infrastructure investment of a base […]

  PHILIPPINES officials have gone into crisis over fears their own President is allowing Beijing to take over their own territory as the row over the South China Sea continues. Under President Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines has shifted to a more pro-China stance. Mr Duterte recently announced that there was nothing the country could do […]

CHINA has re-entered disputed waters in the South China Sea that have been previously claimed by Vietnam as tensions soar between the two Asian nations. A survey vessel from Beijing has been spotted gliding through parts of the disputed waters causing further outrage from Vietnam and inflamed aggression. Vietnam said the ship left the area […]

  Presence last month of Haiyang Dizhi 8 survey ship in waters around Spratly Islands also drew protest from Hanoi. A Chinese survey vessel has re-entered disputed waters in the South China Sea, according to ship tracking analysis, after a tense month-long standoff in the same area that inflamed tensions between Vietnam and China. Vietnam […]

Bach Long Vi Island and its secret transfer from China to Vietnam. In 1957, as the Vietnam War escalated, the most strategic island in the Gulf of Tonkin was secretly transferred from China to Vietnam. This island, called Bach Long Vi (BLV), has long been regarded as essential not only for security and defense, but […]

  The arbitral award or judgment, dated July 12, 2016, was issued unanimously by the five members of the Arbitral Tribunal Constituted Under Annex VII of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (that is how the tribunal called itself). Alleging the tribunal’s lack of jurisdiction, China refused to participate in […]

  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo escalated his criticism of China during a visit to Australia on Sunday, drawing a direct link between what he called one-sided trade deals and China’s ability to strengthen its military. Mr. Pompeo, speaking in the commercial capital Sydney, said, “We were asleep at the switch” as China began to […]

  With the onset of China’s economic reforms in the late 1970s, a widespread belief took hold in the United States and throughout the Western world that establishing robust economic relations with the “new China” would lead to gradual political liberalization. That belief persisted even after the communist government’s June 1989 bloody crackdown on pro-democracy […]