China is using large numbers of irregular maritime militias, dubbed “little blue men”, to assert and expand its control over an increasingly large area of disputed and reclaimed islands and reefs in the strategically important South China Sea, the Pentagon says. The militias, comprising hundreds of fishermen and motor boats mainly based on Hainan island, […]

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau travelled to Japan earlier this week for a bilateral meeting with his counterpart Shinzo Abe ahead of the G7 summit. The main issue in Trudeau’s meeting with Abe Tuesday was the reaffirmation of both countries’ agreement on an anti-Chinese position in the conflicts in the South and East China seas. […]

ISE CITY, Japan—With a keen eye on the Philippines’ legal battle with China over territory in the South China Sea, the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced democracies have agreed to send a strong message on the importance of international law in resolving maritime disputes in Asia. Though no individual countries were mentioned, […]

China could be erecting “a Great Wall of self-isolation” with its increasingly provocative moves against its neighbors, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Friday. Carter focused on the Asia-Pacific region during his commencement speech at the U.S. Naval Academy. Carter said China wants and enjoys the benefits of free trade and a free Internet, but sometimes […]

China is trying to step its game in the military arena as tensions with other countries, particularly in the South China Sea, continue to rise. President Xi Jinping has instructed the military to ramp up its capabilities while carrier-killer missiles are reportedly in tow. China’s Xi Jinping wants its military to deal with more complicated […]

The Philippines is pushing for the inclusion of coast guards and other maritime forces in the Code of Unplanned Encounters at Sea (Cues), an agreement covering air and naval encounters among 20 countries. The proposal was made at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM) in Laos this week, the Department […]

BEIJING, China — Sand, cement, and Chinese military facilities now sit on top of some of the South China Sea’s once-thriving reefs; China has built over half a dozen new artificial islands in a bid to bolster its territorial claims in the hotly disputed region. Such reclamation devastates the local marine habitat. But according to […]

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, stands with other leaders of Group of Seven industrial nations, from left, European Council President Donald Tusk, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Barack Obama, Abe, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and European Commission President […]

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. China has upset Asian neighbors from Japan to Vietnam by flexing harder than the rest on its claims to vast swathes of disputed oceans. But Asia’s third largest country, Indonesia, usually tolerates its brushes with Beijing to keep up prized economic ties. Now China is pushing its […]

posted May 25, 2016 at 12:01 am by Alejandro Del Rosario Air pollution and the smog coming from China’s factories must be severely clouding Chinese leaders’ thinking. How else do you explain their distorted claim that ancient historical maps showed China owned almost all of the sea from its coastlines without total regard for the […]