WASHINGTON – Islands in the South China Sea have been Chinese territory “since ancient times,” Chinese President Xi Jinping told US President Barack Obama on Friday during their meeting after the latter voiced concern over massive land reclamation and militarization in disputed waters. “We have the right to uphold our own territorial sovereignty and lawful […]
Two and a half years ago, the Philippines took an unprecedented step to shake up the territorial dispute roiling the waters of the South China Sea. For years, six nations – including the Philippines and China –have wrestled over control of a smattering of islands and reefs dotting the oceanic expanse. At times, the dispute […]
The South China Sea has been a shipping thoroughfare for at least the past two millennia. Apart from piracy and occasional acts of war, ships of all types and origins have been free to sail wherever they wished. Freedom of navigation through the South China Sea could now be at risk. Six countries lay claim […]
Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has once again sounded the alarm on China’s continuing activities in the West Philippine Sea. China, he said, is not just building artificial islands at seven reefs that are all within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone as defined and recognized by the United Nations Convention on the Law […]
Is China starting down a path similar to that followed by Japan and Germany before 1945, when nationalism backed by new economic clout led to overconfidence and adventures which eventually proved disastrous? The question needs asking in the context of China’s latest moves ultimately aimed at making the South China Sea into a Chinese lake. […]
Professor Philippe Sands QC is one of the foreign legal experts tapped by the Philippines to handle its case against China’s claims over parts of the West Philippine Sea. Sands is currently a barrister with Matrix Chambers in London, United Kingdom, where he practices international law focusing on maritime boundary disputes, international claims relating to […]
The Philippine government has hired foreign legal experts as its representatives in its case against China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands. Answering criticisms, Malacañang argued that the country needs the help of these foreign experts who have “international reputation appearing before the tribunal.” Based on GMA News Online’s research, the […]
China urged the Philippines on Tuesday to ditch its attempt to solve South China Sea territorial disputes with an international tribunal and instead negotiate with Beijing directly, following the arbitration panel’s latest request for input from China. The Philippines has asked the tribunal in The Hague to declare China’s claims to virtually all the South […]
BEIJING — China yesterday rejected an invitation by The Hague to provide input for an arbitration case with the Philippines on overlapping claims in the South China Sea, with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issuing a sharp rebuke. “China has repeatedly expounded its position of not accepting or getting involved in these proceedings initiated […]