HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam’s maritime oil and gas operations are in accordance with international law and conducted in waters in which it has total sovereignty, the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday. Rosneft Vietnam BV, a unit of Russian state oil firm Rosneft (ROSN.MM), is concerned that its recent drilling in an […]

HANOI (REUTERS) – Rosneft Vietnam BV, a unit of Russian state oil firm Rosneft, is concerned that its recent drilling in an area of the South China Sea that is claimed by China could upset Beijing, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters on Wednesday (May 16). Rosneft said on Tuesday its […]

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that no country, organization, company or individual can carry out oil and gas exploration or exploitation in Chinese waters without permission from Beijing. Ministry spokesman Lu Kang made the comment at a regular news briefing when asked about recent drilling by Rosneft Vietnam BV, a unit […]

HANOI, May 17 (Reuters) – Drilling in the South China Sea by Rosneft is within Vietnamese territorial waters, the Russian state oil firm said in a statement on Thursday, two days after its Vietnamese subsidiary began drilling in Vietnamese waters claimed by China. Rosneft’s local unit, Rosneft Vietnam BV, is concerned that its recent drilling […]

GMA News’ resident analyst Richard Heydarian on Thursday said that President Rodrigo Duterte’s remark that there is no point in questioning China’s militarization of the South China Sea was “wrong.” In an interview on News To Go, Heydarian opposed Duterte’s view that engaging in war with China was the only way to assert the Philippines’ […]

On April 17, Philippine defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana and U.S. ambassador Sung Kim took part in a groundbreaking ceremony for the first official construction project under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). The project to build a warehouse for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief supplies at Cesar Basa Air Base in Pampanga Province comes more […]

Is President Rodrigo Duterte a traitor, a tuta (lapdog) of China, or simply a pragmatist trying to get the most of a delicate situation? The question is being raised again in social media and other opinion forums after the President delivered remarks at the sendoff Tuesday of 50 Filipino scientists tasked to do research at […]

President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands prior to their bilateral meetings at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 20, 2016. King Rodriguez, Malacañang Photo/File MANILA- President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement that Chinese President Xi Jinping assured him that he would not get ousted is “dumbfounding,” a maritime expert […]

Military analysts now believe that China dominates the South China Sea militarily to the extent that it would prevail in any situation other than an all-out war with the United States, according to a report by the Manila-based country risk firm Pacific Strategies & Assessments. “A series of reports over the past several months indicate […]

China’s militarization of the South China Sea has caused “great concern” in the United States, according to a visiting US official, who on Wednesday urged claimants in the strategic waterway to pursue dialogue instead of activities that “increase tensions and raise the possibility of conflict.” “Some of the recent reports of militarization would suggest that […]