The Philippines has identified two areas in the crowded waterway suitable for joint exploration and the two countries are seeking ways to tackle the diplomatic and legal headaches of jointly exploring in the waters, but without addressing the issue of sovereignty. Reed Bank is claimed by both sides, but international law says it falls within […]

MANILA – Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Monday said it is incorrect to refer to the areas in the South China Sea formerly contested by the Philippines and China as “disputed.” Carpio, who was part of the team which argued for the Philippines’ ownership of the areas before the arbitration court, previously explained that […]

MANILA: Any deal between the Philippines and a Chinese firm to jointly explore for gas in the Reed Bank of the South China Sea will be illegal unless China recognises the southeast Asian nation’s sovereign rights there, a Philippine judge said on Monday. Manila has identified two areas in the crowded waterway suitable for joint […]

TAIPEI — A U.S. aircraft carrier group is preparing to sail through the contested South China Sea later this month, and observers expect an angry Beijing to register its opposition and quicken its militarization of small islands in the region. The group of ships led by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and guided missile […]

Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin says that the amount of compensation from Russia for violations of Ukraine’s rights in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait will be considerable, but the amount of compensation will be determined by the International Tribunal. “We deliberately do not call the amount, because Russia […]

WHEN Malcolm Turnbull met Donald Trump, China was a big talking point. It’s what our Prime Minister didn’t say that may provoke the superpower. THE Australian Navy may be preparing for a direct independent venture into the South China Sea. Australia has traditionally avoided direct participation in freedom-of-navigation exercises so as not to affect diplomatic […]

MANILA, Philippines — A lack of a coherent Philippine policy on China and its usual accommodation of Beijing’s interests may have contributed to the consolidation of Chinese military presence in the West Philippine Sea, an analyst said. According to Jose Antonio Custodio, a non-resident fellow of think tank Stratbase Albert Del Rosario Institute, a careless […]

CHINA has established military bases on islands built up in the South China Sea, including the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, but can Beijing defend them in an armed conflict? The question was posed by defense and security analyst Robert Farley in his article that appeared Feb. 19 in The National Interest, an American bimonthly international […]

China is turning its newly-built islands in the South China Sea into bases so it can enforce its claim to own the entire international waterway, according to a senior Pentagon official. “It’s not about finding 12 nautical miles more” territory for China around the edges of the controversial islands, “it’s really about enforcing a very […]

History offers lessons for the coming legal and geopolitical debates in space. On January 20, 1788, Captain Arthur Philip sailed into Botany Bay at the helm of the British flagship Sirius and a convoy of transports to realize the United Kingdom’s new claim to Terra Australis. After a 252-day journey to the farthest known edges […]