MUNICH – Leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations on Sunday expressed “strong opposition” to massive land reclamation in disputed waters in the South China Sea as part of China’s attempts to change the status quo by force. The leaders also agreed the G-7 will not lift sanctions on Russia unless it fully implements […]
Taiwan and the Philippines are arguing again about fishing rights in overlapping waters of the Western Pacific. But the dispute that netted three Taiwanese boats in the 250-kilometer-wide Luzon Strait last month will stop short of a flare-up like that of two years ago when Manila’s coast guard shot a Taiwanese fisherman to death at […]
ELEANOR HALL: Scientists from the United States and the Philippines have accused the Chinese Government of destroying coral reefs and fishing grounds with its reclamation program in the South China Sea. Beijing has intensified its dredging and construction on the disputed Spratly Islands in what many see as a challenge to US power in the […]
The US secretary of defense, Ashton Carter, has said the US will continue to patrol the South China Sea and fly across the Spratly reefs occupied by China as international waters. It’s clear that the US has determined to push for the “two-state theory” in the region. The US has always tried to avoid touching […]
Ever since last year when satellite imagery confirmed that China was constructing artificial islands in the South China Sea, journalists, security specialists and even government officials uncritically have adopted terminology that obfuscates rather than clarifies the issues at stake. No term has been so abused as “land reclamation” both in its everyday usage and legal […]
New personal directions Acquiring the map then became as much a personal goal as it was a business decision. “I’m in the technology business … and I endlessly admire the collaboration of skills and technology between Father Murillo Velarde and his team,” Velarde said. He added: “At 50, I think the Murillo Velarde map revealed […]
TOKYO – Group of Seven leaders will express their concern over any unilateral action to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas amid tensions between China and a number of Asian countries, Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper said on Saturday. At the end of the summit in Germany, which starts on Sunday, members […]
It begins with a bit of a chuckle. “Almost a full front row here. Banner day,” chirps Marie Harf, spokeswoman for American diplomacy. Harf is presiding at the podium for what is a weekday ritual at the US State Department, a question-and-answer session for reporters that presents the official view of the world as seen […]
China released its first white paper on military strategy at the end of last month. Issued by the State Council Information Office, the white paper outlines China’s strategy of “active defense,” and highlights four critical security domains: the ocean, outer space, cyberspace, and nuclear forces. For the states of Southeast Asia, China’s outlined military strategy […]
MASINLOC, Philippines — When nations duel over reefs, rocks and islets, people are going to get hurt, and in the South China Sea dispute, that means the fishermen here who once wrested a living from the contested waters. Gunmen in a Chinese speedboat drove Macario Forones, for instance, away from a favorite spot called Scarborough […]