MANILA, Philippines — The territorial row between China and its neighbors, including the Philippines, over the South China Sea has become less intense in the past weeks, the US Department of State said Friday. Marie Harf, deputy spokesperson, confirmed the observation that rival claimants have “toned down,” not exchanging statements asserting their claims and not […]
After many months of taking increasingly bold actions at the expense of its neighbors in East Asia, there are recent indications that Beijing may be adopting more conciliatory policies. China has unexpectedly removed a controversial oil-drilling rig that it had deployed in waters near Vietnam. In late June, Chinese president Xi Jinping conducted a high-profile […]
The 18th Party Congress in November 2012 produced new leadership for China, but it did not produce much optimism for the future of China’s relationship with its East Asian neighbors or the United States. Chinese President Xi Jinping frequently refers to the “Chinese Dream,” or “the great resurgence of the Chinese nation.” Coinciding with this, […]
South China Sea has emerged as an explosive regional and global flashpoint endangering the security and stability of the wider Indo Pacific region. This arises mainly from China’s propensity to use force to settle territorial disputes. Paracel Islands under full military occupation of China and Spratlys Islands under partial military occupation of China coupled with […]
The South China Sea is a powder keg of territorial claims mixed with oil and gas resources. Almost every country in the area has a longstanding animus toward at least one of its neighbors. China claims 90% of the Sea, and Beijing is viewed with fear and suspicion throughout the region. The U.S. and Chinese […]
China’s territorial dispute with Japan over a chain of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea could lead to an “explosive” confrontation, Taiwan’s top diplomat in the United States warned Wednesday. “These little islands could trigger something,” Lyushun Shen, ambassador of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, said in an […]
Vietnam continues to mull the timing of its international lawsuit against China in order to maximize the suit’s impact on Vietnam’s territorial protection, spokesman of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Le Hai Binh at a press briefing on Thursday. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung ordered relevant agencies to prepare documents for legal proceedings against China this […]
“Some of the South China Sea’s most productive oil and gas deposits are off the coast of the states Sabah and Sarawak on Malaysia’s side of Borneo,” reported the Wall Street Journal.An international energy consortium recently announced the discovery of natural-gas off Malaysia’s coast. China issued no public objections regarding the announcement. China has also […]
China has violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) when it snubbed the Philippine arbitral claim on the West Philippine Sea and when it built structures on disputed reefs in the area. This was the pronouncement made by international law expert and University of the Philippines professor Harry Roque Jr. […]
(Reuters) – Territorial disputes over tiny islands and reefs in the South China Sea are poisoning relations between China and its neighbours in Southeast Asia. “In recent months, China has undertaken destabilising, unilateral actions asserting its claims in the South China Sea,” U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told an audience in Singapore last month. “(China) […]