MANILA, Philippines – China was set last year to build on Scarborough Shoal but the US was able to stop the plan, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana revealed on Thursday, March 9. “There was a plan by the Chinese in June to reclaim Scarborough Shoal. We received a report from the Americans that there were barges […]
Yesterday, China expressed satisfaction over finalising a first draft of a Code of Conduct with Asean on South China Sea issues. It has taken 21 years – and it is by no means certain that a substantive final agreement can be reached. The Philippines’ chairmanship of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) comes at […]
Protecting marine environments and ensuring the ocean’s sustainability is a global issue that is vital for all life, and nowhere is this more important than in the South China Sea. Extending across tropical and semi-tropical zones, this body of water offers an abundant and complex marine ecosystem. However, the territorial claims among China, Vietnam, Taiwan, […]
The 42,000-tonne Bluewhale 1 is bigger, faster and can drill deeper than its rivals in disputed waters China has put into service what it claims is the world’s largest and deepest-operating offshore oil exploration platform, the Bluewhale I, the state broadcaster reported on Saturday. The rig has a total deck area about the size of […]
The future of the longstanding South China Sea disputes will largely depend on Washington, Beijing says, and it is ready to deal with any challenges US President Donald Trump may pose to the relations between the countries. Speaking on the eve of the opening of the annual session of the National People’s Congress, Fu Ying, […]
WITH its new status as an economic superpower, China proposed “new normal” relations with the United States to the previous Obama administration, based on the following principles: 1) recognition of each other’s core interests; 2) no conflicts; 3) no threats or intimidation; and 4) mutual respect. According to Ambassador Wu Hailong, the president of the […]
A top U.S. admiral stated Friday while standing aboard an American aircraft carrier on patrol in the disputed South China Sea that the U.S. military is not going anywhere. “We will be here,” Rear Adm. James Kilby said as F-18 fighter jets took off from the deck of the USS Carl Vinson, a Nimitz-class supercarrier […]
TAIPEI, TAIWAN — An underwater observation network planned as the first project of its kind in the South China Sea will reassert Beijing’s sovereignty over the disputed body of water while offering the country information valuable for oil exploration, mineral searches and possible military uses. The Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Acoustics and Tongji […]
Sending the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and its escorts into the South China Sea is an apparent shift from the Obama administration’s policies of “de-escalation” and accommodation towards the People’s Republic of China. Obama prohibited such Freedom of Navigation Operations — known in military acronym as FONOPS — in the South China Sea from […]
The Vietnam People’s Navy (VPN) held a flag raising ceremony for two new Russian-made Project 636M (improved Kilo-class) diesel electric attack submarines at Cam Ranh naval base in Vietnam’s south central coastal Khanh Hoa province on February 28, Vietnam’s Ministry of Defense reports in a press release. The two submarines — Da Nang and Ba […]