While tensions continue to rise in the South China Sea and the disputing governments nervously await a decision in the Philippines’ arbitration case against China, an important sideshow has arisen between Japan and Taiwan in the central Philippine Sea. On 24 April Japan’s Coast Guard arrested a Taiwanese fishing vessel and its crew for fishing […]

The Philippines will not back down from its claim in the South China Sea, but is open to negotiations with China, the country’s incoming president said yesterday. “They are there illegally, whether they want to believe it or not,” Rodrigo Duterte told reporters before meeting Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua. The conflict centres on the Spratly […]

This week the Pentagon ordered the USS William P. Lawrence, a guided-missile destroyer, to sail within 12 nautical miles of the land feature China has constructed on Fiery Cross Reef in the South China Sea. It’s the third time since October the US Navy has penetrated the zone, and it reaffirms Washington’s insistence that Beijing […]

All any nation needs to go to war is a good provocation, and China is no exception. With its sweeping territorial claims, island-building, militarization, patriotic fervor, and prickly rhetoric, Beijing is setting itself up to be repeatedly provoked in the South China Sea. It might even be counting on it. UNCLOS territorial jurisdictions.(Wikipedia) Consider the […]

(CNN)Capable of hitting targets 3,400 miles away, China’s “Guam killer” missile is raising new fears of a growing Chinese threat to major U.S. military installations and stability in the Pacific Rim. A congressional panel has issued a report warning of the dangers of the missile, during a week in which U.S.-China tensions flared anew with […]

(CNN)Satellite photos show China has been rapidly building military outposts on disputed islands in the South China Sea, significantly boosting its presence in the already tense region, according to a Pentagon report released Friday. “China continues to invest in military programs and weapons designed to improve power projection, anti-access area denial and operations in emerging […]

WASHINGTON—China has reclaimed more than 1,295 hectares of land in the southeastern South China Sea. But the country’s focus has shifted to developing and arming those manmade islands to give it greater control over the maritime region without having to resort to armed conflict, according to a new Pentagon report. In its most detailed assessment […]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will try and convince Group of Seven leaders at the summit in Mie Prefecture later this month to form a united front in countering China’s aggressive moves in the South China Sea, sources have said. “The point is whether the G-7 can reach a consensus (on the issue) and how many […]

TAIPEI, May 13 (Reuters) – Taiwan on Friday called on an international tribunal not to make a ruling on a disputed South China Sea island if the judges don’t visit first to see for themselves it can sustain life. Taiwan wants to prove Itu Aba is not just a rock, but a real island that […]

In its most detailed assessment to date of China’s island-building program, the Defense Department said three of the land features in the Spratly Islands now have nearly 10,000-foot runways and large ports in various stages of construction. Philstar.com/File WASHINGTON — A new Pentagon report says China has reclaimed more than 3,200 acres of land in […]