China’s new military reform measures, intended to “give more power to lower-level authorities,” are likely to increase the threat of conflict with its neighbors and with the United States – in ways both obvious and more subtle. First, to the extent the reforms succeed in making the People’s Liberation Army more effective and “capable of […]
America’s move to deploy the P-8 Poseidon spy plane in Singapore amid South China Sea tensions was aimed at militarizing the area, China’s foreign ministry said, according to reports on Wednesday. The United States agreed Monday to deploy the surveillance plane for the first time in Singapore for “maritime security efforts.” China’s foreign ministry said […]
From November 24 to 30, the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) convened in The Hague to hear oral arguments on merit in the The Republic of Philippines v The People’s Republic of China case over competing claims in the South China Sea. After ruling at the end of October that the international tribunal had […]
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is cooperating with other countries in Asia to ensure there is no conflict or power struggle over the South China Sea. Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Naina Merican said all the countries including Brunei, the Phillipines, Vietnam, China and Malaysia, are responsible to ensure the peace and stability in the South […]
The United States has agreed with Singapore on a first deployment of the US P8 Poseidon spy plane in Singapore this month, in a fresh response to China over its pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea. In a joint statement after a meeting in Washington on Monday, the US defense secretary, Ash […]
Many of us were at least mildly encouraged this October when the USS Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer, sailed within twelve nautical miles of Subi Reef, one of the man-made “islands” — actually, they’re military installations — that China has built upon reefs hundreds of miles out into the South China Sea. The US Navy guided-missile […]
Japan is jettisoning decades of World War II pacifism. Communist Vietnam is buying arms from the United States, its old enemy. The Philippines is inviting U.S. forces back 25 years after kicking them out. Even tiny Singapore is getting in on the action, allowing U.S. Navy surveillance aircraft to use bases on its territory. The […]
The South China Sea has been presenting a score of geopolitical issues that have been denting China-US relations. This piece of international waters, situated on the east of Vietnam, west of the Philippines and on the south of mainland China, does not come under China’s territory but Beijing has been exercising its powers to control […]
BEIJING: China’s campaign of island building in the South China Sea might soon quadruple the number of airstrips available to the People’s Liberation Army in the highly contested and strategically vital region. That could be bad news for other regional contenders, especially the US, the Philippines and Vietnam. The island construction work that is creating […]
On Nov. 24-30 2015, the Arbitral Tribunal in The Hague conducted its second hearing on the South China Sea dispute between the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The tribunal was established pursuant to Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS), to which the Philippines […]