‘G’day. My name’s Kevin. I’m from Australia. I’m here to help.” The silver-thatched man on the stage in a loose-fitting black suit and no tie pauses for laughter from the crowd. It’s March 2015, and Kevin Rudd is delivering his first TED talk, an 18-minute guide to China’s post-Mao economic takeoff and the growing trepidation […]
Napoleon Bonaparte is credited with saying some 200 years ago that “China is a sleeping giant. Let him sleep, for when he wakes, he will shake the world.” Pretty spot on, don’t you think? China’s stock market and questions about the Middle Kingdom’s economic future have certainly shaken up world markets in recent weeks, but […]
MANILA, Philippines – China is building a combat-capable air facility on Zamora (Subi) Reef in South China Sea in a development seen to jeopardize the Philippines’s possession of the nearby Pag-asa Island. Satellite photos published Thursday by foreign affairs website The Diplomat showed that China is subgrading for a runway at a width of about […]
TOKYO — While much of the world was focusing on Beijing’s World War II victory celebrations earlier this month, five Chinese navy ships were gliding into U.S. territorial waters off Alaska. Though China was within its rights under international law, it was nevertheless a daring move, coming just as U.S. President Barack Obama was wrapping […]
BEIJING, Sept. 11 (UPI) — Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi said the United States should not get involved in the territorial dispute over the South China Sea and the two countries should stay in “close touch” despite cybersecurity and other conflicts. Yang, a former foreign minister, said in an interview with state-owned China Daily that […]
Satellite imagery of Subi Reef in the South China Sea taken September 3, 2015 clearly shows subgrading for a runway. At a width of approximately 60 meters, the subgrading could support a runway equal in width to that recently constructed by China at Fiery Cross Reef. The current extent of subgrading at Subi is approximately […]
The 48th ASEAN Ministerial Meetings and related meetings were held from August 4-6, 2015. However, Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, made the biggest impression on August 3, just before the meetings proper. He called a press conference to announce that China would keep five commitments on the South China Sea issue. These commitments are as […]
Earlier this week, the Indonesian defense minister said that the country would boost its defenses near the South China Sea in anticipation of future threats. Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said that Indonesia will equip the Natuna islands near the South China Sea with a port and extend its military air base runway so that it […]
China has been raising blood pressures for some time over its actions in the South China Sea. From its aggressive advocacy of territorial and jurisdictional claims to its expansive land reclamation activities, there are “serious questions about Chinese intentions,” says Admiral Harry Harris, Commander of United States Pacific Command. However, the attention given to events […]
Discussing U.S.-China relations is almost a recipe for misunderstanding, even among people who ostensibly speak the same language. Some misunderstandings are deliberate to discredit the advocate; some are simply inadvertent because of the emotional charge of the issue. The United States and China once cooperated and saw each other as useful strategic partners, but much […]