Two recent events in the West Philippine Sea have been cause for celebration in the Philippines. The first and most important was the ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration stating that the court has jurisdiction to hear the Philippine maritime claims filed against China over disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea. Two […]

The US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen sails in the Pacific Ocean. The U.S. Navy sent a guided-missile destroyer within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands built by China in the South China Sea on October 27, 2015. (REUTERS Photo) In late October, the American destroyer USS Lassen sailed within the 12 nautical mile territorial […]

The eagerly-anticipated freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) by the United States Navy (USN) in the South China Sea was initially viewed as a strong demonstration of the United States’ resolve that the waters surrounding China’s artificial islands and claimed reefs are high seas. China’s attempt to establish a de facto12 nautical mile territorial sea around […]

 Gugusan Beting Patinggi Ali in the South China Sea belongs to Malaysia and is not subject to overlapping claims, said Foreign Minister Anifah Aman. He said the shoals, located about 80 nautical miles from Tanjung Baram, Sarawak, were clearly within the Malaysian Exclusive Economic Zone going by the provisions of the United Nations Convention on […]

The difference between freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) and warships transiting under ‘innocent passage’ sounds arcane and legalistic. But this wonkish distinction is now central to understanding the nature of the US Navy’s activities in the South China Sea last week and going forward — with a critical bearing on how they are perceived in […]

Lack of cooperation between nations which have competing claims to the sea is also contributing to the depletion, they said. A number of countries claim the waters, including their reefs and rocky outcrops. A study shows the number of some species at about five percent of 1950s levels. Several of them, such as coral groupers […]

The United States and Japan are pushing to get concerns about the South China Sea included in a statement to be issued after regional defense talks in Malaysia despite Chinese objections to any mention of the disputed waterway, officials said. A senior U.S. defense official said Beijing had made clear as early as February that […]

Over the course of the last several years, tension in the western Pacific has been building. Naval buildups and military modernization efforts continue apace, despite economic downturns. Deployment of ships and new aggressive actions by surface fleets continue unabated. Most recently, plans to spend billions of dollars building up islands that are far from the […]

Much of the coverage of the USS Lassen’s maneuver near the Subi reef in the South China Sea presented the operation as a challenge to Chinese maritime claims and island-building operations. But in fact there are two quite distinct legal issues at play. The first is the traditional U.S. interpretation of the right of innocent […]