Opposition Senator Leila de Lima on Monday urged the Duterte administration to heed United States Secretary Mike Pompeo’s and Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s advice to be wary with its loan agreements with China. Doing so, de Lima said, would prevent the Philippines from falling into a debt trap, which may eventually lead to commitments […]

MANILA, Philippines — The U.S. Navy won’t alter its so-called “freedom of navigation” sail-bys in the disputed South China Sea and has pressed ahead with such operations despite a dangerous maneuver by a Chinese navy ship against an American destroyer, a senior U.S. Navy commander said Monday. Vice Adm. Phillip Sawyer, commander of the U.S. […]

In this what-if scenario, Beijing’s SCS war will bring ‘unimagined’ results. China’s claims of South China Sea (SCS) ownership are illegal, but Beijing’s hyper-nationalistic officials increasingly encourage its forces to attack U.S. Navy ships operating lawfully there. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) appears to be calling for war—a war it may well get. But […]

The US announced on Thursday that it would begin testing a whole new class of previously banned missiles in August, but the US’s chief rival, China, has a miles-long head start in that department. The US’s new class of missiles are designed to destroy targets in intermediate ranges, or between 300 and 3,000 miles. The […]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy sent a flagship through the South China Sea to a port in the Philippines this week, as the Pentagon continues to ramp up its presence in an area China insists is its sovereign territory. The Pentagon confirmed on Friday the freedom of navigation sailing of the U.S. 7th Fleet’s command […]

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said that he and his Vietnamese counterpart Ngo Xuan Lich both agreed to pursue the Code of Conduct (COC) on the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea to avoid tension in the disputed waters. Lorenzana made the remark following his three-day visit in Hanoi from March 10 to March 13, […]

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Two American B-52 bombers flew over the South China Sea on a training mission Wednesday for the second time in 10 days, acts that Beijing considers provocative. Chinese officials resent any challenge to their hold over hundreds of the sea’s tiny islets, which other countries claim, too. But China appears, at least […]

MANILA – Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. will travel to China next week for talks with his Chinese counterpart, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday. Locsin will be in China from March 18 to 21 upon the invitation of Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the DFA said in a […]

Does an unambiguous U.S. assurance to the Philippines in the South China Sea give second wind to an alliance in trouble? Click the arrow to the right to listen. If you’re an iOS or Mac user, you can also subscribe to The Diplomat’s Asia Geopolitics podcast on iTunes here. If you use Android, you can […]

The U.S. has sent B-52 bombers near disputed islands in the South China Sea, the U.S. Pacific Air Forces said Thursday, the second such mission over the contested waterway in 10 days. The Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) said in a statement that the two B-52s had taken off from Andersen Air Force Base on the […]