The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) is a highly capable navy, although it is the smallest of Japan’s military branches. It is technologically more advanced, more experienced, and more highly trained than its main competitor – the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). Yet, in the long-run, the JMSDF and the Japanese Coast Guard (JCG) – Tokyo’s principle […]
South China Sea Manoeuvrings: More of the same in 2015? Sumathy Permal Centre for Maritime Security and Diplomacy, MIMA Events in 2014 further contributed to the turbulence in the South China Sea. These included the stronger presence of naval, fisheries, and law enforcement vessels in areas of overlapping maritime claims, the enactment of new laws […]
According to a report from IHS Jane’s, China’s delegation is refusing to allow the South China Sea issue to be put on the agenda for an upcoming defense minister’s meeting. Specifically, Jane’s reports that China “declined the proposal by ASEAN countries to have the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea […]
BEIJING—Newly released satellite images show a dramatic expansion in China’s construction of artificial islands on disputed South China Sea reefs, intensifying concerns about Beijing’s territorial ambitions. The images provide the first visual evidence that China has built an artificial island covering 75,000 square yards—about 14 football fields—and including two piers, a cement plant and a […]
China’s frantic construction activity on a series of disputed reefs in the South China Sea has set off alarm bells across the Pacific and in Washington, raising fears that Beijing is putting steel in the ground to back up its contentious claims to a big swath of one of the world’s key waterways. Since last […]
Notwithstanding the protest by smaller Asian nations over the swift pace that China has been constructing facilities in disputed islands in the South China Sea, Beijing again flexed its military muscle by claiming a seventh reef. The news of another China claim comes from the Philippines, one of the Southeast Asian nations that is contesting […]
MANILA— The Philippines is expressing “serious concern” over newly released satellite images that show major progress in China’s reclamation work at contested outcroppings in the South China Sea. The latest images published by IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly show “a large facility” in the works at Johnson South Reef. In May 2014, the Philippine military reported […]
This map shows four land features in the Spratly Islands that have undergone significant construction or land reclamation work in the past year. They are: Itu Aba, Gaven Reef, Johnson South Reef, and Fiery Cross Reef. Read more details about the features of these projects and use click and drag the slider in the middle […]
Common sense, as we all know, is far from common. Then there are the things we hold to be true without question. When we take the trouble to give these a second look, sometimes we are surprised to find the opposite to be true. People who have followed this column for many years know how […]