SUMMARY MANILA, Philippines – Despite earlier asserting he wanted the military deal scrapped, President Rodrigo Duterte decided to suspend his earlier decision to terminate the Philippines’ Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States due to rising tensions in the South China Sea during the pandemic. According to Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr, who along […]
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/South-China-Sea/Pandemic-distracted-world-wakes-to-China-s-maritime-incursions
JAKARTA – Indonesia said Thursday that the completion of a so-called code of conduct being mapped out by Southeast Asian countries and China to avert clashes in the South China Sea may be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. “Negotiations on the code of conduct cannot be held virtually, so we will wait until conditions […]
The violent clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan valley along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh has led to the death of 20 Indian troops and an unknown number of Chinese casualties. The deaths on both sides represent the most serious incident involving the two militaries since 1967, and the […]
Hundreds of miles away from the scene of the current Sino-Indian dispute lies another perpetual theatre of war where China is a permanent player — the South China Sea, where tiffs over competing claims frequently degenerate into maritime muscle-flexing. China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei all lay claims to these waters. Rival countries […]
The U.S. Navy has conducted a Taiwan Strait transit to “demonstrate the U.S. commitment to a free and open IndoPacific,” according to a statement from Naval Sea Systems Command. Navy destroyer USS Russel conducted the transit in the area, which borders the areas just North of the much-disputed South China Sea. Recent Chinese maneuvers, such […]
https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Duterte-s-U-turn-on-defense-pact-with-US-shows-China-threat
MANILA, Philippines—Retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio is proposing a national database to keep track of the developments in the West Philippine Sea for the next generation of Filipinos. At an online forum, he described the West Philippine Sea dispute as an “intergenerational struggle.” “This will not be solved in our generation. This […]
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A U.S. Navy transport jet was sighted flying directly over Taiwan on Tuesday morning (June 9) and was last spotted flying towards Taiwan’s Dongsha Islands (Pratas Islands) in the South China Sea. Aircraft spotting sites AirNav RadarBox and planefinder, in addition to Twitter user Golf9, spotted a U.S. Navy Boeing C-40a […]
Chinese and Malaysian vessels were locked in a high-stakes standoff for more than one month earlier this year, near the island of Borneo in the South China Sea. The Malaysian-authorized drill ship, the West Capella, was looking for resources in waters also claimed by Beijing, when a Chinese survey vessel, accompanied by coast guard ships, […]