MANILA, PHILIPPINES An economic slump is making government eager for new investments. But the risk is real. Critics of a Chinese company’s proposed investment on Fuga Island renewed warnings against the project amid an economic slump that has made the government eager for new investments. Fuga is a 10,00-hectare private island with pristine white beaches […]

The local government of Kalayaan in Palawan has named 4 sandbars and 2 coral reefs in Pag-asa (Thitu) Island, whose surrounding waters are continuously being claimed by China despite a 2016 arbitration award invalidating Beijing’s sweeping claims over almost the entire South China Sea. Pag-asa Island, located some 285 miles west of mainland Palawan, hosts […]

Observers of United States (US)-China relations increasingly talk of a new cold war. On top of a long-running trade war, the two countries now find themselves in a destructive cycle of mutual sanctions, consulate closings, and increasingly bellicose official speeches. Efforts to decouple the US economy from China’s are underway as tensions mount in both, […]

Yesterday, the US military’s Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) confirmed that three B-2 stealth bombers from the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri had been deployed to the Naval Support Facility on the remote island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. The aircraft departed the Missouri base on Tuesday and arrived on Diego […]

SOUTH CHINA SEA tensions have pushed the US and China into a dangerously hostile dispute, with some experts warning the risk of conflict is real. This wasn’t helped by Beijing’s deployment of “ship killer” missiles. China’s military had already threatened to “sink two aircraft carriers” of the US’ when it activated the ballistic missiles. Rear […]

  is one of the world’s busiest waterways and rich in natural resources. It is also one of the most contested maritime areas, with various countries, including China, Vietnam and the Philippines claiming sovereignty. TheSouth China Sea The United States is not a claimant but it does have strategic interests in the area and its […]

Malaysia has rejected China’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea in a rare public rebuke of its largest trading partner. The government made a submission to the United Nations two weeks ago on its rights over the remaining portion of a continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the country’s baselines, Foreign Minister […]

KUALA LUMPUR • Malaysia has rejected China’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea in a rare public rebuke of its largest trading partner. The government made a submission to the United Nations two weeks ago on its rights over the remaining portion of a continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the country’s […]

If this was any other ordinary, pandemic-free year, August would have heralded a blitz of parachute diplomacy inSoutheast Asia Regional Forum (ARF), which convenes foreign ministers of the 10-nation bloc and key global partners, is considered so important that it is highly irregular for a major power’s top diplomat to skip the security meeting, no […]

In his State of the Nation Address last July 27, President Duterte admitted to the nation that he is “inutile” in defending Philippine sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). Duterte declared: “[China is] in possession. So what can we do? We have to go to war and I can’t afford it. xxx I’m […]