KUALA LUMPUR–Beijing faces pressure over its island-building in the South China Sea during high-level Asian security meetings this week that will include the top US and Chinese diplomats. China is expanding tiny reefs into islands and topping some with military posts to reinforce its disputed claims over the strategic sea, fanning fears of a regional […]
Southeast Asian countries on Tuesday backed a U.S. call to halt land reclamation in the South China Sea, underlining unease in the region over Beijing’s continued expansion on disputed islands. China has said it does not want the issue raised at this week’s meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) […]
CHINA may be building a second airstrip on a reef near the second largest of the Spratly Islands being occupied by the Philippines and which is being claimed by three claimant-countries, according to the Washington-based think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). “China’s artificial island at Subi Reef, which may eventually house an airstrip, […]
Update: On Tuesday, Asean nations called for a halt to expanding reefs into artificial islands in the South China Sea. A major threat to stability in Asia today is the competing claims of countries that border the South China Sea. It is an urgent issue that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, a […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Southeast Asian nations want China to stop land reclamation in the disputed South China Sea, a regional official said Tuesday, but China insisted it has a right to continue the activity. Le Luong Minh, secretary-general of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said ASEAN foreign ministers expressed concerns in […]
BEIJING (Reuters) — China’s military warned on Saturday (August 1) on its founding anniversary of growing risks along its borders, including in the disputed waters of the South and East China Seas. The Chinese military, the world’s largest, has embarked upon an ambitious modernization program in recent years. That, along with rising defense spending, has […]
WASHINGTON: You’d expect the top admiral in the Japan Self-Defense Force to talk about defending Japan. But Adm. Tomohisa Takei surprised me on his latest visit to Washington — his third in 10 months — with a speech that clearly demonstrates how Japan is broadening its strategic perspective. The new view from Tokyo takes in the Indian […]
To understand China’s bid to dominate the Western Pacific, and America’s role in answering it, there are few better vantage points than the deck of the BRP Ramon Alcaraz. Based here at what was once the largest overseas base of the U.S. Navy, this frigate and a small number of other Philippine navy ships are […]
MANILA – The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) called on the international community for a “united voice” to stop China from pursuing the “might is right” strategy in the territorial dispute over the West Philippine Sea. AFP spokesman Col. Restituto Padilla made the appeal after the New York Times, quoting think-tanks, detailed Chinese construction […]
Several developments in recent weeks point towards China’s efforts to expand the seaborne aviation capability of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The PLAN is seeking to procure amphibious assault ships with significant aviation capability, are finishing construction on the world’s largest aircraft carrier dock, while speculation is mounting over a possible new aircraft carrier […]