When I was learning to fly, one of the lessons was that if you see an object on the horizon that is seemingly stationary but getting larger, watch out. It is probably an aircraft closing with you. Trouble with China in the South China Sea is on the horizon of U.S strategic concerns and getting […]
Two US B-52 strategic bombers flying near Chinese manmade islands in the South China Sea recently were contacted by Chinese ground controllers but continued their mission undeterred, the Pentagon said. “We conduct B-52 flights in international air space in that part of the world all the time,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told a briefing. In […]
Subi reef, located in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, is shown in this handout Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative satellite image taken August 8, 2012, and released to Reuters October 27, 2015. A U.S. guided-missile destroyer sailed close to one of China’s man-made islands in […]
BEIJING — China said Friday it respects freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea despite reports its ground controllers issued warnings to U.S. strategic bombers flying over the area this week. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Friday that China opposed flights that used such freedoms as mere legal cover, strongly implying […]
BEIJING – China has recently been on what some call a charm offensive, engaging in a flurry of friendly diplomatic adventures from East to Southeast Asia that appear to be aimed in part at cooling the rising power’s contentious territorial disputes. The South China Sea issue could become a key topic next week during the […]
A top Indonesian official recently said his country was seeking clarification on the extent of Chinese claims to the South China Sea – and could take China to international court if that clarity isn’t forthcoming. Luhut Pandjaitan, the chief of staff to Indonesian President Joko Widodo as well as Jakarta’s coordinating minister for political, legal, […]
Could we be witnessing a legal cascade in the South China Sea? Most states with claims have thus far eschewed formal legal challenges to China, but that could be changing. In the wake of the Philippines’ legal victory against China (if only on jurisdictional questions), Indonesia’s security chief has suggested that his country might also […]
After finally making a sensible move in the South China Sea, the Obama administration blew it at the last moment. In late October, the Aegis destroyer USS Lassen, a vessel optimized for air and missile defense, cruised past the Subi Reef, located more than 500 miles from China’s Hainan Island. Subi is one of the […]
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Activists hold a protest in front of the Chinese Consular Office in Manila on Jun. 12. The protesters shouted slogans against China’s reclamation and construction activities on islands and reefs in the Spratly Group of the South China Sea. (NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images) The noose finally appears to […]
The Chinese government prides itself on its foreign policy acumen and strategic thinking, but it’s been a rough few weeks for Chinese foreign policy in Southeast Asia. With the U.S. freedom of navigation operation, the ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague on the Philippine suit, Beijing’s bullying within ASEAN, the hollow […]