Tag Archives: Oil

China media threatens Vietnam over oil rig row

BEIJING, China – China should give Vietnam a “lesson it deserves to get” if Hanoi ratchets up tension in the South China Sea, an aggressive editorial in state-run media said Tuesday, May 6. The editorial in the Global Times newspaper comes after Vietnam reacted furiously to a decision by Beijing to move a deep-water drilling […]

Jakarta seeks clarification from Beijing on claims in South China Sea

JAKARTA — Indonesia is seeking clarity on China’s intent behind its maritime claims in the South China Sea to avoid the risk of miscalculations in a zone rich in natural gas, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said. Indonesia wants an explanation for a map outlining China’s assertions in the South China Sea that appears on […]

Can Asia prevent its own Crimea?

With the world watching Ukraine with wary eyes, the U.S. Navy’s lead admiral in the Pacific suggested Asia could face a similar crisis if the continent’s other major power continues on its current path. Since 2009, China has stepped up what Philippine officials have called a “creeping invasion” in the South China Sea. Although less […]

EDITORIAL – Territorial greed

It must be good to wake up one day, look at the vast expanse of ocean around your land, and decide that all the waters as far as the eye can see are yours. That’s what Beijing is doing in the sea to its south that needs an official change of name because the country […]

Forget Oil and Gas, the South China Sea Just Got More Complicated

As former-best-friends-turned-sour during the Cold War, the Sino-Vietnamese relationship has managed to overcome a number of issues and has progressed to levels of cooperation unimaginable only 10 years ago. Vietnam’s civilian-led patrols, backed by marine police and a border force, will be deployed from 25 January within Vietnamese waters in the South China Sea. Photo: […]

Tangling With China

The Philippines is resisting China’s claims in the South China Sea by filing its case with the United Nations arbitration tribunal of judges, which has agreed to hear the case in March at The Hague. President Benigno S. Aquino III has appealed to the international community to support his effort to settle the territorial dispute […]

US tells China to adjust its territorial claims in the South China Sea in accordance with international law, or prove the claims

The U.S. voiced concern Wednesday that China is gradually asserting control in the disputed South China Sea on the basis of vague territorial claims unsupported by international law. Sharpening U.S. criticism of the rising Asian power, Daniel Russel, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, described in congressional testimony a litany of actions by China […]

China’s maritime policy

I have written repeatedly about the need to resolve the West Philippines Sea dispute with China through litigation. At the time when the Department of Foreign Affairs was still debating internally on whether to submit the issue to arbitration or resolve it through diplomacy, I was already arguing that arbitration was the only option given […]

Biden Says U.S. to Push China for South China Sea Code

Vice President Joe Biden said the U.S. is pushing China to negotiate quickly with Southeast Asian nations on a code of conduct for the South China Sea, an area that’s a “major, major, major highway of commerce.” China agreed during an Association of Southeast Asian Nations-hosted forum in Brunei late last month to meet with […]