Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue last week, Lieutenant-General Wang Guanzhong dropped a proverbial bomb in the Island Ballroom. Halfway through his 38-minute speech, the deputy chief of general staff of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) accused Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and United States Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel of “coordinating” and “supporting” one another […]
One reason the world pays so much attention to a white-knuckle struggle over East Asia’s seas and islands is that the watery clashes resemble the bad old days of America’s Wild West. Brute force competes with the law. Crude power tries to trump principles applicable to all. A grand battle is underway to create a […]
Many people, like my old friend Brad Glosserman, find it hard to understand why China is acting the way it is in the East and South China Seas. What does Beijing hope to achieve by alienating its neighbours and undermining regional stability? Let me suggest an answer: China is trying to build what President Xi […]
(Reuters) – Japan and China on Sunday accused each other’s air forces of dangerous behavior over the East China Sea, with Japan saying Chinese aircraft had come within a few dozen meters of its warplanes. Japan’s defense minister accused Beijing of going “over the top” in its approach to disputed territory. China’s defense ministry said […]
MANILA (REUTERS) – China warned Japan on Friday to stay out of a growing dispute with its neighbours over the South China Sea, as the Philippines implicitly accused Beijing of delaying talks aimed at a solution. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, rejecting rival claims to parts of it from Vietnam, the Philippines, […]
Chairman Mao’s “little red book” is no longer a fashion accessory in Beijing, but China’s leaders seem to be drawing inspiration from one of its aphorisms: “There is great disorder under the Heavens and the situation is excellent.” Judging by the calculatedly risky steps they have taken — like moving a gigantic drilling rig deep […]
Collisions between ships of Vietnam and China following the latter’s installation of a deep water oil rig in the disputed South China Sea mark a dangerous escalation of simmering tensions. Simultaneous to this fracas near the contested Paracel Islands, maritime authorities of the Philippines have arrested Chinese fishermen close to another coveted portion of the […]
“What would America fight for?” exclaimed The Economist, as it cautioned the Obama administration against strategic retreat and neo-isolationism. It dismissed President Obama’s foreign policy as a cerebral doctrine that excuses inaction — one that is based on visceral recoil at confrontation and distaste for strategic gamble. It warned Washington about increasing doubt among allies, […]
Media attention during Barack Obama’s four-nation Asian trip focused, understandably perhaps, on the three countries that are US allies – Japan, South Korea and the Philippines – and, in particular, on developments with military significance, such as the American president’s assurance that the US-Japan security treaty covered the Senkaku, or Diaoyu, islands claimed by China. […]
TOKYO – A delegation of senior Japanese lawmakers left for Beijing Sunday on a mission to mend ties between the two neighbours amid a territorial dispute, which has prevented a leaders’ summit The bipartisan delegation, led by Masahiko Komura, former foreign minister and vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, departed from Tokyo’s Haneda […]