VIENTIANE, Laos – Southeast Asian foreign ministers will hold crunch talks in communist Laos on Sunday at a summit already overshadowed by infighting over Beijing’s sabre rattling in the South China Sea. The gathering in Vientiane is the first major regional talks since the UN-backed tribunal ruled earlier this month that China did not have […]

MANILA – Malacañang on Wednesday said that while the Philippines will engage China bilaterally “to find mutually acceptable arrangements” following a favorable ruling of the arbitral court, it maintained that the country’s “sovereign economic rights” are “non-negotiable.” Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said engagement with China must comply “with the Constitution, International Law and the rule […]

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Wednesday stressed that negotiations with China over the dispute on the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea must be compliant with the Constitution, international law and rule of law. Foreign Affairs Perfecto Yasay Jr. earlier revealed that his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, offered to hold talks to resolve the […]

U.S. military forces will continue to operate in the South China Sea in accordance with international law, the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson said on Wednesday during a visit to a Chinese naval base. China has refused to recognize a ruling by an arbitration court in The Hague that invalidated its vast territorial […]

BEIJING — For the past several years, US marine scientist John W. McManus has been using satellite imagery to track China’s fishing practices and construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea. Earlier this year, after viewing images of reef destruction, he decided to go see it for himself. In February, he ventured to […]

Australia’s Air Force chief says he wants to see warships and planes continue to regularly sail and fly into the South China Sea, despite the rising military tensions in the disputed waterway. Key points: No change to previous number of flights, Air Marshal Leo Davies says Continues as Australia’s contribution to preserving regional security and […]

The July 12 arbitration award in the Philippines case against China under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) isn’t only significant for East Asia and maritime law. It will also have implications for public international law and the peaceful settlement of international disputes generally. http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-wisdom-of-the-hagues-south-china-sea-decision-1468943819

China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea are made on the basis of a nine-dash line now ruled spurious by an international court. But where did the line originate from and why is Beijing so sensitive about it? First the dotted line on Chinese maps lost two of its hyphens in 1952, when, in […]

In this Friday, July 8, 2016 photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese navy sailors search for targets onboard the missile destroyer Hefei during a military exercise in the waters near south China’s Hainan Island and Paracel Islands. They are controlled by Beijing but also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan. China’s navy is holding a […]

Introduction In November 2012, then president Hu Jintao’s work report to the Chinese Communist Party’s 18th Party Congress was a defining moment in China’s maritime history. Hu declared that China’s objective is to be a haiyang qiangguo—that is, a strong or great maritime power. China “should enhance our capacity for exploiting marine resources, develop the […]