The Philippines and Thailand on Tuesday called on the country’s neighbors to respect freedom of navigation and over-flight in disputed waters. READ: Duterte taunts Alejano: Siya ang mauna sa Spratlys “Respect for freedom of navigation and over-flight in the South China Sea is in the interest of all countries within and outside the region,” President […]

MANILA, Philippines — A draft Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) chairman statement shows that the regional bloc is gradually accepting that the South China Sea has become “China’s lake,” an analyst said. Carlyle Thayer, emeritus professor at University of New South Wales in Canberra, said that President Rodrigo Duterte, as this year’s ASEAN chair, […]

THE SUMMIT meeting of the 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Nations held this week in Manila was dominated by a non-member that was not even in the conference hall. Through President Rodrigo Duterte, the summit chair, China succeeded in throwing into the dustbin the 2016 award by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at […]

BEIJING – China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee, a top law-making body, passed a revised version of China’s surveying and mapping law intended to safeguard the security of China’s geographic information, lawmakers told reporters in Beijing. Hefty new penalties were attached to “intimidate” foreigners who carry out surveying work without permission. President Xi Jinping has […]

MANILA – China’s support for finalizing a code of conduct in the hotly contested South China Sea is generating some hope in Southeast Asia of settling disputes, but those working out the terms remain unconvinced of Beijing’s sincerity. Signing China up to a legally binding and enforceable code for the strategic waterway has long been […]

Here and abroad, the common (mis)perception is that the current government is too cozy with China and, correspondingly, relaxing its claims in the West Philippine Sea. After all, you have a chief executive, who never fails to praise Beijing as a friendly, brotherly nation, which could serve as an indispensable partner for national development in […]

Beijing’s South China Sea ambitions encompass defense, trade — and pride A U.S. Navy F-18 fighter jet lands on the USS Carl Vinson following a patrol of the South China Sea. © AP The question of what China actually wants in the South China Sea is surprisingly little-studied in the West. Too many international analysts […]

China has expressed alarm over the visit of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Armed Forces chief Gen. Eduardo Año to Pag-Asa Island last Friday, saying it ran counter to an “important consensus” reached between the leaders of the two countries. FMPRC/Released MANILA, Philippines – China has expressed alarm over the visit of Defense Secretary Delfin […]

Philippine authorities are working to confirm reports that Chinese Coast Guard vessels harassed and drove away Filipino fishermen at Union Bank in the Spratly group in the South China Sea. According to early reports, Chinese Coast Guard vessels fired warning shots to deny fishermen access to disputed waters. The location of the incident, which occurred […]

MANILA, Philippines — The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies reiterated its opposition to the militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea. The ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States maintained their commitment to maintaining a rules-based maritime order based on international […]