The US announced on Thursday that it would begin testing a whole new class of previously banned missiles in August, but the US’s chief rival, China, has a miles-long head start in that department. The US’s new class of missiles are designed to destroy targets in intermediate ranges, or between 300 and 3,000 miles. The […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy sent a flagship through the South China Sea to a port in the Philippines this week, as the Pentagon continues to ramp up its presence in an area China insists is its sovereign territory. The Pentagon confirmed on Friday the freedom of navigation sailing of the U.S. 7th Fleet’s command […]

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said that he and his Vietnamese counterpart Ngo Xuan Lich both agreed to pursue the Code of Conduct (COC) on the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea to avoid tension in the disputed waters. Lorenzana made the remark following his three-day visit in Hanoi from March 10 to March 13, […]

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Two American B-52 bombers flew over the South China Sea on a training mission Wednesday for the second time in 10 days, acts that Beijing considers provocative. Chinese officials resent any challenge to their hold over hundreds of the sea’s tiny islets, which other countries claim, too. But China appears, at least […]

MANILA – Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. will travel to China next week for talks with his Chinese counterpart, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday. Locsin will be in China from March 18 to 21 upon the invitation of Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the DFA said in a […]

Does an unambiguous U.S. assurance to the Philippines in the South China Sea give second wind to an alliance in trouble? Click the arrow to the right to listen. If you’re an iOS or Mac user, you can also subscribe to The Diplomat’s Asia Geopolitics podcast on iTunes here. If you use Android, you can […]

The U.S. has sent B-52 bombers near disputed islands in the South China Sea, the U.S. Pacific Air Forces said Thursday, the second such mission over the contested waterway in 10 days. The Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) said in a statement that the two B-52s had taken off from Andersen Air Force Base on the […]

There appears to be a collective aversion among government officials and heads-of-state in Southeast Asia to speak up in public about Chinese transgressions and coercion in the South China Sea. Such reticence is based on misplaced fear of Chinese repercussions and does a disservice to regional interests, undermines deterrence and needlessly concedes leverage in negotiations […]

A B-52H Stratofortress bomber leads other aircraft from the United States, Australia and Japan during a COPE North 2019 airpower demonstration formation over the Pacific Ocean on March 6. Pacific Air Forces flew B-52H Stratofortress bombers over the South China Sea Wednesday for the second time in a 9-day span as the United States keeps […]

China has pushed back on a speech made earlier this week by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the country’s international practices, including its behavior in the South China Sea and use of debt as a tool of statecraft. “By blocking development in the South China Sea through coercive means, China prevents ASEAN members […]