MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Repsol said it had suspended oil drilling in a block off Vietnam, where the prospecting in South China Sea waters claimed by China had infuriated Beijing and brought Chinese pressure on Vietnam to stop. Tension has been growing between Vietnam and China over energy development in the waterway, where extensive Chinese […]

  Bangkok: China has threatened to attack Vietnamese bases over gas drilling in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, according to diplomatic sources in Hanoi and the Asian oil industry.   Vietnam responded by ordering a subsidiary of the Spanish company Repsol, which was doing the drilling, to leave the area called Block […]

From August 2-8, ASEAN leaders and their dialogue partners, including rivals China and the United States, will have a series of key security meetings in the Philippines. Casting a shadow upon these meetings and haunting the corridors will be recent developments regarding the South China Sea. Indeed, it is no coincidence that tensions are flaring […]

  TOKYO/HANOI (AFP, REUTERS) – Japan has lodged a protest with China over what it described as suspicious activity in a maritime area rich in gas deposits in the East China Sea, officials said Tuesday (Aug 1), while Vietnam condemned China’s construction and operation of a movie theatre on the Paracel islands in the disputed […]

The hype surrounding the UK’s future role on the issue needs to be put into proper perspective. Late last week, a series of remarks by British officials about the country’s future actions in the South China Sea quickly reverberated across the world, prompting headlines that suggested a more muscular role by the Britain in the […]

  Besides celebrating the organisation’s half century of existence, the parley also brings together top diplomats from non-members such as the US, China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, India, Russia, Australia, New Zealand and participants in forums such as the Asean Plus Three, the East Asia Summit and the Asean Regional Forum. China and Asean […]

Communist Party mouthpiece praises president’s tough stance on maritime disputes with Asian neighbours An editorial on Friday in Study Times – put out by the Central Party School, the Communist Party’s top academy – was the latest to lavish praise on Xi for his tough stance on territorial issues with the country’s Asian neighbours. “[President […]

A year ago on 12 July 2016, the Arbitral Tribunal handed down its award on the claims brought by the Philippines against China over their maritime disputes in the Spratly Islands. The Tribunal ruled unanimously on almost all of the Philippines’ claims. If China and the Philippines had complied with the findings of the award, […]

It seems that after India, Britain has now come in the firing line of the hawkish Chinese state media. The reason is another territorial dispute – the South China Sea – where China is flexing its muscles, like it’s trying to do with India in the Doklam dispute. Britain has announced it will send its […]

As chairman of ASEAN’s 50th year this 2017, Manila can lead the crafting of a long-delayed Code of Conduct in the South China Sea. In this role it must stay focused on the aim of such COC not for dispute settlement but as war prevention. The wordings must be precise, admonishes Supreme Court Senior Justice […]