BEIJING – China defended its right on Thursday to put “necessary military installations” on artificial islands in the South China Sea, after a US think-tank said Beijing appeared to have deployed weapons such as anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said its findings, […]

Philippine defense and military officials are still verifying reports that China has installed weapons system on the seven artificial islands it has built in the disputed South China Sea. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the issue, if true, is a matter of concern not just for the Philippines but other countries, as well. “We are […]

It started innocently enough, or so Beijing wanted the world to believe. In the mid-1990s, China built a small structure on stilts over a coral reef in the South China Sea, just 217 km (135 miles) from the coast of the Philippines’ Palawan island. At the time Beijing reassured Manila that the structure—a platform topped […]

New photographic evidence has emerged of “significant” Chinese military defences on artificial islands in the South China Sea, a think tank reports. China had previously committed to not militarising its controversial developments in the region. But satellite images published by a US group appear to show anti-aircraft guns and missile defence systems on the seven […]

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has warned of tension and mistrust amid reports China has installed weapons on all seven of its artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea. A US think tank has been tracking developments with satellite images and is confident in its assessment Beijing has deployed anti- aircraft and anti-missiles systems on […]

BEIJING (REUTERS, AFP) – China said Thursday (Dec 15) that the deployment of weapons in the South China Sea had “nothing to do with militarisation”, calling the construction of defensive facilities “normal”. Speaking at a regular press briefing, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told journalists that he was not aware of the report, but said […]

The United States is ready to confront China should it continue its overreaching maritime claims in the South China Sea, the head of the U.S. Pacific fleet said on Wednesday, comments that threaten to escalate tensions between the two global rivals. China claims most of the resource-rich South China Sea through which about $5 trillion […]

New Delhi: India and Indonesia on Monday affirmed their commitment to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). “Both leaders affirmed that India and Indonesia are maritime neighbours whose relations are rooted in civilisational contacts developed through the seas and who share similar perceptions of the evolving maritime environment in the region […]

First the phone call, then the bombshell. On December 2, Donald Trump reversed 37 years of American foreign policy by taking a ten-minute congratulatory phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. Yesterday, he went further, announcing that he doesn’t know “why we [the United States] have to be bound by a One China policy unless […]

The Hague’s Arbitration Tribunal on July 12 clearly backed the Philippines on the issue of the South China Sea (SCS) dispute. It also declared large parts of the South China Sea as international waters and a few as other countries’ Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). India stood in support of The Hague’s ruling as it believed […]