In a remarkable public speech at ASPI’s Future Surface Fleet conference last month, the Commander of the US Pacific Fleet—Admiral Harry B. Harris—criticized China for engaging in an “unprecedented land reclamation” effort, creating a “great wall of sand” in the South China Sea (SCS). He went on to point out: “When one looks at China’s […]
NEW DELHI: With China showing no signs of climbing down from its claim in the South China Sea region and continuing with building artificial islands including airstrips in the region, some members of the ASEAN including Vietnam and Singapore at their just concluded summit have called for immediate Code of Conduct (COC) by Beijing and […]
LANGKAWI, Malaysia — Southeast Asian leaders on Tuesday expressed “serious concerns” over China’s land reclamation activities in disputed areas of the South China Sea, which they said could undermine peace, security and stability in the region. The stand was taken in the form of a “chairman’s statement” released by Malaysia one day after it hosted […]
BEIJING – China’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it was “extremely concerned” after leaders of Southeast Asian countries expressed worry about land reclamation and navigational freedom in the disputed South China Sea. China’s reclamation work in the South China Sea has become the latest source of tension with some of its smaller neighbours, several […]
MANILA, Philippines — President Benigno Aquino III said Tuesday he sees “very, very substantial progress” in discussions within ASEAN of the South China Sea issues. Arriving in Manila from Malaysia, where he attended the 26th ASEAN Summit and pushed for asserting ASEAN centrality in facing China’s increasingly aggressive moves to control the strategic waters, Aquino […]
China’s aggressive actions in the South China Sea are prompting a soul-searching query from Hanoi to Washington: At what point does a sliced-up salami cease being a salami at all? In a short space of time, China’s unilateral and incremental efforts to carve out a greater presence in the South China Sea — by, for […]
Never underestimate Chinese engineering. First the Great Wall, then the Grand Canal, and now the Great Wall of Sand. China is rapidly augmenting features in the South China Sea (SCS) on industrial scale—hundreds of acres (more than 4 square km)—that even its neighbors combined cannot match. “Features,” is the key word here, because many were previously […]
BANGKOK— Southeast Asian leaders said China’s island-building efforts in the South China Sea threaten to undermine the “peace, security and stability” of the region. A statement issued at the end of the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in Malaysia, noted “serious concerns” on Chinese land reclamation in the sea, calling for “self-restraint […]
China’s aggressive reclamation over the West Philippine Sea may result in a national crisis for the Philippines, Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said. In a lecture on Thursday, Carpio explained that China’s efforts, intended to give teeth to its “nine-dashed line” claim over nearly the entirety of the South China Sea, have “grave implications […]
WHAT is it to belong to the global commons? Some Filipinos have remained neutral on the issue of territorial and maritime disputes with China. Most of the Filipinos thought that things will pan out to the interests of both parties since we have a shared history what with the Philippines being a haven to Chinese […]