Tag Archives: Military Conflict

China ex-general says force an option in ‘Taiwan problem’

BEIJING – An army general has warned that China will not leave the Taiwan problem “unresolved for a long time,” after the island’s Beijing-friendly ruling party suffered a bruising election defeat, a state-run newspaper said. Liu Jingsong told the annual conference of the Global Times newspaper that the Chinese government would not be afraid to […]

The South China Sea: Navigating the Most Dangerous Place in the World

When people ponder where the next major conflict might erupt, they often look to the South China Sea – the scene of the potentially most explosive, intractable, overlapping sovereignty claims in the world. What can the United States do to find a peaceful solution to tensions between China, the Philippines and Vietnam, and indirectly between […]

PLA’s JL-2 missile can reach US mainland: report

China’s JL-2 second-generation intercontinental-range submarine-launched ballistic missile, which has the ability to reach the continental USA, is already believed to be deployable by the People’s Liberation Army, reports Huanqiu, the Chinese-language website of the nationalistic Global Times tabloid. The Julang-2 — literally “Giant Wave 2” — has reached a preliminary level of proficiency, according to […]

China building South China Sea island big enough for airstrip – report

WASHINGTON – Satellite images show China is building an island on a reef in the disputed Spratly Islands large enough to accommodate what could be its first offshore airstrip in the South China Sea, a leading defense publication said on Friday. The construction has stoked concern that China may be converting disputed territory in the […]

What’s next in South China Sea? 4 scenarios simulated

MANILA, Philippines — More than 70 analysts from various countries held debates in a bid to simulate the future of the disputed South China Sea. In a statement earlier this week, consultancy firm Wikistrat examined “key factors” driving instability in the waters claimed by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan to come up with […]

Why China’s South China Sea Diplomacy Will Frustrate Claimants

What happens the next time people die for an island in the South China Sea? And what happens if some of those people hail from a great power? Last weekend, the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, in conjunction with the Army War College, conducted a negotiation simulation on crisis resolution in the South China […]

Managing Indo-Pacific Crises

Tensions in Asia are rising over unresolved territorial disputes and sovereignty issues. In contrast to the immediate post-Cold War period, recent tensions are characterized by the evident proclivity of some, if not all, parties towards the threat or use of limited force. As a much preferred tool of statecraft, maritime platforms tend to be the […]

US using power to protect allies from bullying, intimidation

“Generations of Americans have served and died here so that the people of the Asia Pacific might live free. So no one should ever question our resolve or our commitments to our allies,” United States President Barack Obama said while in Australia for G20 summit. He said that security in Asia does not rely “on […]

Your rules or mine?

COMMUTERS BETWEEN MARIN COUNTY and San Francisco in northern California are getting used to a new spectacle during rush hour. Vast, ungainly container ships, bearing China’s flag and name, plough along under the glorious Golden Gate Bridge. They are bringing goods into the Port of Oakland—and taking back America’s trade deficit. Any pleasure yachts zipping […]

No more Chinese ‘restraint’ in South China Sea under Xi: expert

Taipei, Nov. 14 (CNA) Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, China no longer adopts a “strategy of restraint” in South China Sea disputes, a Taiwan-based expert said Friday. Lin Cheng-yi, a researcher with Academic Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, said at a Taipei seminar on the wrestling in the East and South […]