A crisis between the US and China over Taiwan could affect US interests next year, according to a survey released by a US think tank on Wednesday, although it said it was not very likely. In the annual Preventive Priorities Survey released by the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations’ Center for Preventive Action (CPA), […]

  When the Cold War ended, many pundits anticipated a new era in which geo-economics would determine geopolitics. As economic integration progressed, they predicted, the rules-based order would take root globally. Countries would comply with international law or incur high costs. Today, such optimism looks more than a little naive. Even as the international legal […]

  SOUTH CHINA SEA contests between China and the US have led to a rapid and unnerving militarisation of the disputed region as both superpowers aim to stamp their authority – but where exactly are Washington and Beijing in control? The South China Sea is host to lucrative shipping lanes and trading ports, provoking President […]

Foreign Minister Saifuddin says Malaysia’s decision to take South China Sea claim to UN is its ‘sovereign right’. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Malaysia has hardened its diplomatic position on the disputed South China Sea, questioning China’s “nine-dash line” claim over the entire sea lane that has already been previously declared with “no legal basis” by […]

  Beijing’s South China Sea coral conservation efforts are met with scepticism by critics who see a larger strategic purpose behind them. Photo: XinhuaBeijing’s South China Sea coral conservation efforts are met with scepticism by critics who see a larger strategic purpose behind them. China has embarked on a decade-long plan to revive the ravaged […]

  The building was drab on the exterior; a nondescript office complex on the fringe of Shenzhen outside of Hong Kong. Li Zhou opened the door and got out of her small car. She eyed the revolving door and made her way to the entrance as the vehicle moved along to its next user. She […]

  China is becoming an Atlantic naval power, venturing into the ocean’s southern waters as it steps up investment in the region and counters perceived threats from the United States, according to a report in a security journal. The assessment, written by Ryan Martinson, an assistant professor at the US Naval War College in Rhode […]

  GENEVA — Chinese leaders have long been sensitive about their communist country’s international image. Now, they are battling back — investing in diplomacy and a courtship of hearts and minds, just as the United States digs in on the Trump administration’s “America First” mindset. A trade war and other frictions between the world’s top […]

  MANILA — Alarmed Philippine Navy officials are trying to scuttle China’s involvement in a $10 billion airport project near Manila, citing national security concerns. State-owned China Communications Construction Company, which built a chain of Chinese military outposts in the South China Sea, has joined forces with billionaire Lucio Tan’s MarcoAsia on a proposed new […]

  In 2020, the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations falls to Vietnam. For Hanoi, the immediacy of the South China Sea problem was underscored this year when a Chinese oil survey ship and its escort vessels roamed for months inside Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone. This prompted a rebuke from Vietnamese deputy foreign […]