I. The importance of the South China Sea The South China Sea, as we know, is of tremendous economic and geostrategic importance: It is where a quarter of international trade goes through and where more than half of the world’s oil tankers and merchant ships pass every year. The South China Sea is part of […]

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has expressed concern over territorial disputes between some of its members and China in the South China Sea. It called for a peaceful resolution to the matter. Vietnam chaired the four-day virtual ASEAN summit meeting, which wrapped up on Sunday. The chairperson released a statement on Wednesday. The statement […]

Canadian defense minister Harjit Sajjan has made it clear that his nation is against militarization in the South China Sea. “Canada opposes unilateral actions that have escalated tensions in the region and undermined stability in the South China Sea. We are against the threat or use of force, large-scale land reclamation, building outposts on disputed […]

US President-elect Joe Biden in phone calls with the leaders of Australia, Japan and South Korea on Thursday emphasised on maintaining a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. According to foreign media reports, Joe Biden declared that US security guarantees apply to Japan’s administration of the disputed Senkaku Islands, in the President-elect’s first significant foreign policy […]

MANILA – The 11th hour appointment of a group of hardline Donald Trump loyalists to top Pentagon positions has raised the prospect of an escalation of tensions in the South China Sea in the weeks ahead. Trump’s perfunctory dismissal this week of Defense Secretary Mark Esper has raised concerns in some quarters of a Trump […]

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Thursday expressed its hope for an “effective and substantive” code of conduct for all activities in the South China Sea. Addressing the opening ceremony of the 37th ASEAN Summit as the current chair, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc reaffirmed the bloc’s determination to maintain “peace, stability, […]

The day after the U.S. presidential elections, on November 4 the U.S. government announced its decision to sell MQ-9B (Sea Guardian) drones to Taiwan. As Taiwan’s ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone) is frequently intruded by the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) nautical and airborne vehicles, the drones, when acquired, will provide the country with a counterweight […]

  PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte once again invoked the country’s arbitral victory against China over the South China Sea, saying no country, no matter how powerful, should not ignore the ruling. In his speech before the plenary session of the 37th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit on Thursday, Duterte said the arbitral award was […]

The United States under President-elect Joe Biden is expected to show heightened interest over the South China Sea, former presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Monday. “There will be a heightened emphasis on South China Sea towards freedom of navigation,” Lacierda said during an interview on CNN Philippines. Lacierda said that “30 percent of the world’s […]

  The Philippines will back China’s candidate to fill one of the five seats at the International Court of Justice that will become vacant next year, according to presidential spokesman Harry Roque. Roque says the country will support China because of the Philippines’ “very close” ties with Beijing. Since coming to power in 2016, President […]