Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario on Wednesday said he expects the Netherlands-based arbitral tribunal to hand down a ruling on a Philippine complaint against China’s massive claim in the disputed South China Sea in May. Manila’s case, filed in January 2014, challenged the validity of China’s sprawling territorial claims in the resource-rich waters and […]
China toned down vitriolic rhetoric in response to the recent passage of a US warship near a disputed island in the South China Sea. USS Curtis Wilbur Guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur Chinese government-controlled media outlets, however, seized on the transit of the guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur on Jan. 30 within 12 miles of […]
Are the United States and China collaborating to rewrite the international law of the sea? If so, it would be an odd but potent combination with ominous global implications. China is a member of the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention, but regularly violates its provisions. The United States has not ratified UNCLOS, but […]
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A female nurse has become the first citizen to register as an official resident of Taiping Island in a disputed part of the South China Sea, reports said Saturday. The island, also known as Itu Aba, saw its international profile rise significantly when President Ma Ying-jeou visited it last Thursday, to […]
Nations have begun to rally in defense of “freedom of navigation” around the South China Sea most of which is claimed by a nine-dashed line (initially 11 dashes by a Chinese idealist in 1936). As controversy builds around the issue, prominent Chinese scholars have come forward to debunk this ox-tongue demarcation that a Republic of […]
Australia’s air force chief said that China now challenges “nearly all” Australian surveillance flights over the South China Sea. Air Marshal Leo Davies told Sydney Morning Herald that the number of Chinese warnings to routine Australian patrols had increased, a byproduct of an increasing Chinese presence on disputed islands in the area. The nature of […]
CANBERRA—A new Pentagon report saying that China’s reclamation activities and construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea increased dramatically during the past few months has aroused widespread fears that the landgrab would derail diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving rival claims through United Nations arbitration. The report, released last August, pointed out that as […]
The dialogue here covered a range of issues of mutual interest, including exchange of perspectives on maritime security and prospects for maritime cooperation between the two countries, the External Affairs Ministry said. It said developments in international regimes such as UNCLOS (UN Convention on the Law of the Sea) and IMO (International .. Read more […]
The upcoming US-ASEAN summit on February 15-16 in Rancho Mirage, California provides an opportunity for the Obama administration to boldly demonstrate its rebalance towards Asia, and for the U.S. Senate to assert America’s national interests by ratifying the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Since the ten countries that make up ASEAN […]
Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, asserted his country’s claim on Taiping, or Itu Aba, in the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea, by taking a day trip to the mostly barren rock formation on January 28, 2016. United States and Philippine officials were quick to issue disapproving statements regarding Ma’s first visit to Itu Aba […]