BOSTON – President Xi Jinping seems to agree with the Athenian general who, more than 2,000 years ago, warned the people of Melos that the strong do what they wish and the weak do as they are compelled. His government insists that nearly all the South China Sea belongs to China — even islets and […]

China’s lion-share claims to the resource-rich waters in the South China Sea took a huge blow earlier this month after the Permanent Court of Arbitration issued a landmark ruling dismissing China’s “nine-dash line” territorial claim. The court found that Beijing had violated the Philippines’ economic and sovereign rights and concluded there was no legal basis […]

Australia has no plans to back off sea and air patrols in the South China Sea where an increasingly bellicose China is standing firm on its territorial claims, the head of defence joint operations says. Vice Admiral David Johnston says Australia has long conducted patrols in the North Indian Ocean and South China Sea in […]

MANILA, Philippines — On 12 July 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) under the United Nations Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) ruled in favor of the Philippines in its 14 claims against China’s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea that it is a violation of international law. The court declared that China’s […]

Tensions are high on the seas of Southeast Asia, but it is the war beneath the sea that matters more in the long run. Amidst the fracas between China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei over claims in the South China Sea, it’s the fish and coral that are the silent victims. With every […]

Anyone familiar with the foreign policy rhetoric emanating from Beijing for the past three decades or more has heard talk of China’s “good neighbor policy,” its “peaceful rise” and its aspirations to contribute to a “harmonious world,” by way of “a new type of great power relations.” China pledged under Deng Xiaoping to pursue a […]

MANILA— The U.S. says it is encouraged by the willingness of China and the Philippines to engage in direct dialogue over the South China Sea following a tribunal ruling against Beijing earlier this month. In Manila Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with senior Philippine officials, including new Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte. It […]

Donald Rothwell, vice dean of Law Department of Australian National University delivers speech at Saturday’s conference Legal issues relating to Awards of the Arbitral tribunal established under annex VII of UNCLOS 1982. — Photo daidoanket.vn HCM CITY — International experts encouraged Việt Nam to keep close watch on the upcoming developments of the Philippines’ lawsuit […]

The central contemporary geopolitical dynamic is the relative waning of US power and the steady accretion of power, wealth and clout by China. Historically, Washington has neither treated another country as an equal nor confronted a rival as powerful as China. Even at the height of its power, the former Soviet Union was an incomplete […]

MONTEREY, Calif. – Kathleen Walsh, associate professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute, presented lectures on China at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center July 21. Walsh spoke about two current topics of interest in international affairs in her presentation titled “21st Century China: U.S. partner, […]