MANILA, Philippines — The long-standing rivalry over maritime zones in the South China Sea will not be settled but may simmer down this year, analysts say. Robert Farley, professor at University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, believes that the import-oriented trend in the oil industry can affect how rival claimants China […]
The Maginot Line was a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles, and weapons installations that France constructed just before the border with Switzerland and the borders with Germany and Luxembourg during the 1930s. A mature network of military facilities in the Spratlys, including an expanded Fiery Cross presence, would effectively extend China’s ability to project power […]
Recently released British government files attest to a prior agreement between Japan and China to shelve their territorial dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. The files record a 1982 conversation between Zenko Suzuki and Margaret Thatcher, then the prime ministers of Japan and the U.K., respectively. In that conversation, Suzuki told Thatcher that he had reached […]
The Russian Military Observation website published an article titled “China’s Nuclear Potential” on December 30, 2014. It says that China is upgrading and improving its strategic bombers, but the H-6K, the upgraded version of the H-6 bomber imported from Russia has a range of only 3,000km, and does not constitute nuclear deterrence against the US. […]
Usually countries fight for gains or to prevent losses, but US experts are quite different. Michael Pillsbury, the director of the Centre on Chinese Strategy at the Hudson Institute, holds quite different views. In his recent article “China and the United States Are Preparing for War” he holds that war is inevitable because China is […]
During a modernization briefing on December 17, Philippine Navy (PN) vice-chief Rear Admiral Caesar Taccad revealed future plans to acquire at least three submarines, as part of a follow-up to the ongoing 15-year P90-billion Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) modernization program. The South China Sea disputes are no doubt a key motivation, when the […]
The dispute involving China, Taiwan, and four Southeast Asian countries over territorial sovereignty and maritime rights in the South China Sea has been described as one of the world’s most complex and intractable international relations problems. Despite its regional and international ramifications, there is no clear roadmap for how it should be managed or resolved. […]
A new ship set sail Monday from Hainan Island for Sansha City on its maiden voyage to supply islands in the vast South China Sea. The civil ship Sansha I is the largest and most advanced vessel yet to supply and commute between Hainan Island and islets in the South China Sea. Sansha I is […]
While Malaysia remains fully committed to a “common ASEAN position” in terms of engaging China on the South China Sea disputes, it does not want this to affect its good bilateral relations with Beijing – as do several other ASEAN states. It is unlikely that KL will change its hedging policy. By Nguyen Huu Tuc* […]
Col. Jin Zirui of the Chinese Air Force Headquarters justified the ongoing construction of an airstrip at Fiery Cross Reef, one of the islands in the Spratlys that is being disputed by several Asian nations. The base under construction is intended as support for China’s radar system and gathering of intel, Asahi quoted Col. Jin […]