SINGAPORE — Malaysia, Indonesia and others are stepping up criticism of China’s island-building in the South China Sea, abandoning previously neutral stances and potentially swinging the balance of opinion in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations against the regional heavyweight. Defense ministers from ASEAN members and observer nations including China, the U.S., South […]
An aerial photo taken through a glass window of a Philippine military plane shows the alleged on-going land reclamation by China on mischief reef in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, west of Palawan, Philippines, in this May 11, 2015 file photo. Ritchie B. Tongo, Reuters WASHINGTON – The chief counsel for the […]
Predictions that a possible World War 3 could erupt from a skirmish that occurred last week between the U.S. and China in the South China Sea have come from a particularly troubling and high-level source, according to a report by Reuters on Friday. That source was none other than the chief of the China Navy […]
The widely-anticipated decision of an arbitration body, formed under the aegis of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to exercise jurisdiction on the Philippines’ arbitration case against China represents a major victory for those who seek a semblance of rule of law in the West Philippine Sea. Interestingly, it happened shortly […]
The Permanent Court of Arbitration, an agency at the United Nations that listens to disputes about the UN’s Law of the Sea, has agreed to hear the Philippines‘ case against China for building military bases on reefs in the South China Sea a thousand miles south of its Mainland. To no one’s surprise, China indicates […]
At last. After weeks of Hamlet-esque public debate, U.S. defense officials ordered Aegis destroyer USS Lassen to cruise within 12 nautical miles (nm) of Subi Reef on Oct. 27. The reef is an undersea rock in the South China Sea that Beijing has built into an artificial island in the contested Spratly Islands. It wants […]
China’s official government reactions to the recent U.S. Navy “freedom of navigation” (FON) operation within 12 nautical miles (nm) of a Chinese-occupied constructed island in the South China Sea are a multilingual puzzle. A careful examination of Chinese-language versions of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministry statements, however, reveals extreme subtlety in wording and […]
Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy May 21, 2015. U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in […]
The US chief of naval operations and his Chinese counterpart will hold an hour-long video teleconference on Thursday, days after Beijing was angered by a US warship’s patrol within a 12-nautical-mile (22km) limit around a man-made Chinese island in the South China Sea, a US official said. The meeting was initiated by Admiral John Richardson […]
In this April 8, 2008, file photo, guided missile destroyer USS Lassen arrives at the Shanghai International Passenger Quay in Shanghai, China, for a scheduled port visit. The USS Lassen has sailed past one of China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in a challenge to Chinese sovereignty claims […]