Over the past month, some international news outlets have reported that Vietnam is pursuing a strong stance on the South China Sea. Yet a closer look at Hanoi’s overall position – as well as those of other countries and international entities – vis-à-vis the maritime issue shows that is not the case. On December 30, […]

President Trump announced new investments in missile defenses aimed at shielding the nation against growing threats from North Korea, China, Russia and Iran. “Our goal is simple: to ensure that we can detect and destroy any missile launched against the United States anywhere, any time, any place,” Mr. Trump said at the Pentagon. Background: Antimissile […]

How can China acknowledge the arbitral ruling favoring the Philippines’ claim in the West Philippine Sea when its own government has been teaching Chinese students from grade school “false narratives” to validate its expansive claims in the disputed area? Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Thursday asked this rhetorical question in a forum where he […]

Philippines authorities should take over a major shipyard that sits on the site of a former U.S. navy base, or risk letting it fall into the hands of the Chinese who could use it as a regional foothold amid contentious South China Sea claims, Filipino officials said Thursday. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said he had […]

The chief of US naval operations, Admiral John Richardson said today that he had urged Chinese authorities to follow international rules during naval encounters at sea to ensure safety as tensions over China-US relations in the South China Sea continued. Richardson added that sending US aircraft carrier to Taiwan Strait remained an option for the […]

Operation would inevitably raise tensions between world’s largest superpowers The US Navy could still send an aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait in spite of Chinese military technology advances which pose a greater threat to American warships than ever before, the US chief of naval operations has said. Such an operation would inevitably increase the […]

MANILA, Philippines — Tension between the Philippines and China on the West Philippine Sea would be lower in the final half of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said. “I think there will be lower tension. I think everybody understands already what’s the role there, we already talked,” Lorenzana said in an interview […]

MANILA, Philippines — Beijing considers itself a “role model in observing regional and rules” while it has been blatanly ignoring an arbitration ruling on the South China Sea. In response to a report by the US Department of Defense stating that Beijing might use its military expansion to compel Taiwan into a reunification with the […]

I.M. Wright is usually right, but this time, in his January 9 letter, “Others will not sit (by) as China bends the rules”, he is not right to have sided with the “don’t do as I do” United States and Vietnam: the latter claims a big chunk of China’s area bounded by the nine-dash line. […]

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Vietnam’s tough stance against China over sovereignty of the South China Sea will put Beijing on the defensive during regional talks on easing the regional maritime dispute, people who follow the process say. Officials in Hanoi have suggested establishing a code of conduct that, among other things, would bar construction on artificial […]