The Spratly Islands are basically mounds of sand in the middle of the South China Sea, some of them barely tall enough to reach above the water. But China is hell-bent on making them inhabitable, even drawing up plans for floating energy and water plants. It has nothing to do with the islands themselves and […]
Satellite images captured by Taiwan indicate that Vietnam is pushing for land reclamation much harder than China in the disputed South China Sea, the Christian Science Monitor reported on Sept. 23. Wang Cheng-gi from the Satellite Surveying Center of the Department of Land Administration under Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior, who is in charge of […]
UNITED NATIONS – “Can international law be a law when it can be ignored or broken by states without any consequence?” Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations Libran Cabactulan raised this question as he hosted a discussion at the UN on a topic closely related to the Philippines’ historic arbitration case against China on the […]
India will soon be supplying naval vessels to Vietnam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday, the first significant military transfer to Hanoi at a time when it is embroiled in a territorial dispute with China. The announcement came after Modi held talks with his visiting Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Tan Dung, during which the two […]
This resumes Wednesday’s piece, “China’s Own Ancient Maps Disprove Beijing Sea Claim.” The article detailed 15 maps of China, 1136-1933, by Chinese officials and citizens. Their common feature: Hainan Island (ancient names Zhuya, Qiongya, Qiongzhou) always has been China’s southernmost territory. Supreme Court Senior Justice Antonio T. Carpio dug up the maps. They belie Beijing’s […]
It is no secret that the South China Sea is an area of conflict and controversy, but understanding the interests and role of the United States in that region is not intuitive. The situation centers on competing territorial claims by China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, the Philippines and Malaysia over several sets of islands. Attempts by […]
China’s leading diplomat has arranged to visit Vietnam next week, five months since tensions between the two countries erupted over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea. Yang Jiechi will meet with Vietnam’s Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh on 27 October, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement, where the two will discuss “Sino-Vietnam […]
In a dramatic display of strategic naiveté, the Philippines decided (early-October) to suspend the repair and upgrade of its age-old airstrip on the Spratly island of Thitu (Pagasa to the Filipinos), among the biggest and most prized land features in the South China Sea, which can generate its own 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The […]