Fake islands, the Taiwan Travel Act and Chinese outreach to Russia are making military conflict more likely. The tit-for-tat trade sanctions fight between the U.S and China may be getting the headlines and rocking financial markets, but some less-noticed recent flare-ups between the world’s preeminent powers may present more lasting, and perilous, complications for American […]

MANILA — As an “interested party” in the achievement of peace in the Pacific region, the United States is encouraging transparency in the negotiations for the crafting of the Code of Conduct (COC) on the West Philippine Sea. In a conference call with the press on Thursday, Patrick Murphy, US State Department’s Principal Deputy Assistant […]

In theory, any resource-sharing agreement should be consistent with both countries’ national as well as the 2016 international tribunal ruling at The Hague, which nullified much of China’s nine-dash line map claims to areas Manila views as its own. The Philippine constitution bars any JDA with a foreign entity that refuses to acknowledge the country’s […]

When the US aircraft carrier, Carl Vincent, recently made a port call at Da Nang, Vietnam, it attracted international attention because this was the first time that a large contingent of US military personnel landed on Vietnamese soil since the last of the American troops withdrew from that country in 1975. The symbolism of this […]

Late last month, Vietnam suspended ongoing work on a major oil drilling project in disputed waters between it and China in the South China Sea, reportedly under Chinese pressure. The incident revealed the ongoing challenge Vietnam faces in protecting its interests in the vital waterway as Beijing continues to aggressively assert its maritime claims. Vietnam […]

China and Vietnam agree to “cautiously handle maritime issues.” From March 30 to April 2, Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister as well as a member of the State Council, paid an official four-day visit to Vietnam. Officially, Wang was in Vietnam this time mainly to attend the sixth Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation Leaders’ […]

Hong Kong press reported Tuesday the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group anchored at Singapore port and may soon be deployed to the South China Sea. File Photo courtesy of United States Navy Sign up for our weekly Korea Now newsletter An exclusive report putting perspective on the week’s most important developments. April 3 (UPI) — […]

H-6K bombers, Su-30 and Su-35 fighter jets were among the aircraft involved in the combat patrols and drills, and they also passed over the Miyako Strait, which lies between two Japanese islands, the air force said in a statement on Sunday. It called the exercises the air force’s best preparation for war. The air force […]

On Friday, as the U.S. and China sparred over trade and tariffs, the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Mustin conducted freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS) in proximity to Mischief Reef, a Chinese-occupied feature in the Spratly Islands. In a statement, a spokesperson for U.S. Pacific Fleet declined to confirm the specific operation. “We conduct routine and […]

The passage of a US Navy destroyer near the Chinese-claimed islands in the South China Sea was a major political and military provocation against Beijing, the Chinese Defense Ministry has warned. The USS Mustin came within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands archipelago, known as Nansha Islands in China, Reuters reported […]