The South China Sea ranks high on any list of the world’s geopolitical hotspots. But though the region has been volatile for centuries, the last two decades have witnessed a subtle shift in the underlying drivers of conflict. Through most of the second half of the twentieth century, the biggest threats to regional stability were […]
Security experts believe China is pushing the region to the “brink of miscalculations” in the South China Sea with its expansive land reclamation in disputed territories as the Philippines anticipates more blockades by the Chinese in the West Philippine Sea once their facilities become fully operational next year. “The bases are being constructed very fast, […]
MANILA, Philippines — The long-standing rivalry over maritime zones in the South China Sea will not be settled but may simmer down this year, analysts say. Robert Farley, professor at University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, believes that the import-oriented trend in the oil industry can affect how rival claimants China […]
Recent months have witnessed an impressive Chinese diplomatic blitzkrieg, with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang feverishly courting friends and foes alike, proposing ambitious trading agreements and acquiescing to various confidence building measures (CBMS) aimed at de-escalating geopolitical tensions in the region. But China’s intensifying legal battle with the Philippines has injected new uncertainties […]
SYDNEY — On two recent occasions, a pair of Sukhoi Su-30 fighters have taken off from their base near the old Indonesian trading port of Makassar and flown far across the Indonesian archipelago to intercept unidentified aircraft. One of the mystery planes, a light aircraft being ferried from Darwin in northern Australia to its new […]
Government lawyers on Tuesday maintained that the country’s Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the United States is a valid executive agreement that does not need Senate concurrence. In a final effort to defend the EDCA before the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, in a 42-page memorandum, said referring the EDCA to the Senate, […]
WASHINGTON – A military clash between China and one or more Southeast Asian nations involved in territorial disputes in the South China Sea has a 50-50 chance of occurring in 2015, the Council on Foreign Relations said. The Washington-based think tank rated the sea controversy as one of 10 top US conflict prevention priorities in […]
China’s ambiguous claim to the South China Sea, approximately demarcated by a series of hash marks known as the “nine-dashed line,” faced objections from an expanding number of parties over the past two weeks. While a challenge from the United States came from an unsurprising source, actions by Indonesia and Vietnam were unexpected in their […]
One month ago, the Center for Strategic and International Studies launched a new web-based program, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. The premise of this project will be familiar to many of you: maritime competition in Asia has been steadily increasing in recent years, and doing so in an environment of informational opacity. Maritime geography makes it […]
The code, ratified earlier this year, was put into effect as the two navies launched their latest anti-piracy exercise in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday. Analysts said the exercise was an opportunity to put the code into practice and an encouraging indication that both navies want to minimize the risk of misunderstandings. The Chinese […]