NAYPYITAW, Burma—President Aquino on Thursday challenged China to take “concrete action” in the South China Sea to match its diplomatic overtures in the Southeast Asian region. Speaking at the dialogue between the 10 Southeast Asian countries and China near the close of the 25th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit here, Aquino said the […]
What is the core of Chinese strategy in the South China Sea dispute? The Western eye is particularly ill trained to see through Beijing’s strategic moves. It tends to view the game nations play in terms of chess, but as keen observers of Chinese strategy such as Henry Kissinger and David Lai have noted, China […]
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines does not see the need to withdraw its case before the international arbitral tribunal against China to move its relations with Beijing forward, Malacañang said yesterday. At the same time, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda told a press briefing that the country would stick to the multilateral approach in resolving its […]
“Generations of Americans have served and died here so that the people of the Asia Pacific might live free. So no one should ever question our resolve or our commitments to our allies,” United States President Barack Obama said while in Australia for G20 summit. He said that security in Asia does not rely “on […]
The international media has reported that China is undertaking large-scale South China Sea reclamation works on several of the seven reefs it occupies in the Spratly Islands. The 2002 Asean-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea states that the parties undertake to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that […]
China has denied excluding the Philippines from its planned revival of an ancient Maritime Silk Road, which aims to build infrastructure across the region to bolster trade among nations. “The media report of ‘China bypassing Philippines in its 21st century Maritime Silk Road’ is incorrect,” the Chinese embassy in Manila said in a statement, referring […]
BEIJING – Singapore rejects a military solution to defuse simmering tensions in the fiercely contested South China Sea. Instead, countries with competing claims should use diplomatic means to resolve the ongoing maritime territorial spat, said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen. “The less involved our militaries are, the better for all of us. Its not an […]
COMMUTERS BETWEEN MARIN COUNTY and San Francisco in northern California are getting used to a new spectacle during rush hour. Vast, ungainly container ships, bearing China’s flag and name, plough along under the glorious Golden Gate Bridge. They are bringing goods into the Port of Oakland—and taking back America’s trade deficit. Any pleasure yachts zipping […]
China will push for the implementation of a code of conduct for the South China Sea – a document that will lessen the risk of escalating tensions in the area-but experts said such an agreement faces obstacles, at least in the short term. Premier Li Keqiang reaffirmed China’s resolve to safeguard territorial sovereignty at a […]
NAYPYITAW – President Aquino has asked China to remove its ships illegally deployed in the West Philippine Sea. Speaking at the ASEAN-China summit yesterday at Myanmar International Convention Center, Aquino said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations values practical cooperation and early harvest measures, including hotlines and search and rescue arrangements. “These activities, however, can […]