China is using “coercive tactics” and fostering regional tensions as it expands its maritime presence in the South China Sea and elsewhere, but is avoiding triggering an armed conflict, the Pentagon said Friday. In an annual report to Congress, the Defense Department outlined China’s rapid military growth and described how it is assertively defending sovereignty […]

Beijing is rallying the court of public opinion ahead of an international arbitration ruling on the Philippines’ legal challenge against Chinese maritime claims. A senior Chinese diplomat on Thursday amplified Beijing’s grounds for rejecting the tribunal’s authority over the dispute and sought to cast the Philippines as irresponsibly pursuing a frivolous lawsuit. “Any ruling issued […]

With the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) expected to deliver its ruling on the Philippines-China dispute over maritime jurisdiction in the South China Sea (SCS) as early as next month, China has embarked on a diplomatic offensive to rally international support to downplay the court’s decision. To this end, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently […]

Partial and unofficial results put Rodrigo Duterte as the presumptive winner of the Philippine elections and that’s why his opinions and possible strategies now matter for the country. Now, according to the soon-to-be president, there is a solution to the South China Sea spat that has been keeping countries on their toes. Duterte is the […]

Tanks on the Black Sea. For the first time ever, the U.S. Army has sent Abrams tanks to take part in an exercise in Georgia, on the Black Sea coast. The tanks will take part in an annual exercise on Russia’s southern flank, where Moscow fought a war in 2008. About 1,300 troops from Georgia, […]

China said yesterday that more than 30 other countries might find themselves unwittingly embroiled in legal battles similar to the case brought by Manila against Beijing over disputed claims to the South China Sea. The comments by senior Chinese diplomat Ouyang Yujing takes Beijing’s argument that the UN tribunal hearing the case has no jurisdiction […]

THIS HAS reference to Salvador France’s letter titled “Indeed, US bases removal in 1992, a magnificent decision” (Opinion, 4/26/16). I had the privilege of serving in Moscow on the eve of the demise of the Soviet Union. One notable event with this demise was the defection of many KGB agents to Boris Yeltsin. Some of […]

Malacañang on Sunday denounced China’s refusal to take part in a proceeding to resolve the disputes in the South China Sea, filed before the Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international organization based in the Peace Palace, The Hague. “The participation of the Philippines in international arbitration proceedings of the arbitration court is a strong adherence […]

A private group in Taiwan has filed to intervene in a case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, asserting that at least one territory in the South China Sea belongs to neither the Philippines nor China, but to the “Republic of China,” Taiwan. The Chinese (Taiwan) Society of International Law has filed […]

On May 10, 2016, the USS William P. Lawrence conducted the United States’ third recent South China Sea freedom of navigation operation (FONOP). Many in Washington had been expecting a FONOP for several weeks, because the last FONOP was over three months ago and a defense official previously committed to conduct two such operations per […]