STATE DEPARTMENT— Speaking in Hawaii after a week-long trip to Asia, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said resolving competing territorial claims in the South China Sea is about respecting international law, not rival claimants trying to intimidate each other. Secretary Kerry said disputed mineral and fishing rights in the South China Sea underlie more […]
Hopes of resolving the South China Sea’s bitter territorial disputes have once again proven illusory. Meeting in Myanmar over the week-end, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) shied away from backing the Filipino proposal for a freeze on destabilising unilateral challenges to the territorial status quo. Although this is typical of ASEAN’s limp diplomacy, […]
NAYPYIDAW — China would be willing to halt its activities in disputed areas in the South China Sea if the Philippines backs out of international arbitration it initiated last year, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Saturday. Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario proposed at a regional security summit here what he termed a […]
NAYPYITAW, Myanmar—China on Saturday rejected the Philippines’ proposed freeze on perceived provocative acts that recently stirred tensions in contested Asian waters, signaling its preference to tackle South China Sea disputes with diplomatic efforts that have made little progress in the last decade. Read more: http://online.wsj.com/articles/china-rejects-philippine-proposal-on-south-china-sea-disputes-1407574262?tesla=y
MANILA, Philippines–Who would have thought that the tiny Philippines would be a thorn in the side of giant China? Magdalo Rep. Francisco Ashley Acedillo said the Philippines’ geographic location is in the way of China’s defense strategy in the Asia-Pacific region, giving its ally, the United States, a base from which to counter China. “Our […]
DA NANG: Vietnam and regional countries should raise world alarm about China’s nine-dash claim to much of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), retired French general Daniel Schaeffer told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos here. Schaeffer, an expert on Chinese issues at France’s Asia Research Center, […]
BEIJING — China rejected a suggestion by the Philippines for a regionwide ban on construction in the South China Sea after Beijing began building a school on a rugged outpost it created to strengthen its claims to disputed waters. Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said he will propose that the Association of Southeast Asian […]
Malacañang on Monday shrugged off China’s recent comment that the Philippines was trying to draw the world’s sympathy through deception in the dispute over territories in the South China Sea. “It is part of the dynamics of international relations to conduct information campaigns or to propagate a national policy by utilizing the mass media as […]
On June 9 China unexpectedly opened a new front when Wang Min, Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations, presented Secretary General Ban Ki-moon a formal position paper on the dispute with a request that he circulate it to all 193 UN members. China’s action in internationalizing its dispute with Vietnam does not represent a change […]
The Philippines filed a protest over China’s reclamation in Kennan Reef in the West Philippine Sea last week. The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that China has been carrying out land reclamation activities in Hughes Reef. Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said this follows the Philippines’ protest against China’s reclamation on Mabini Reef last April […]