Washington has made its point loud and clear in the South China Sea. But it is likely to be lost on Beijing. “There should be no mistake: the United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows,” Defense Secretary Ashton Carter declared at a late May gathering of Asia Pacific’s top defense officials in Singapore. […]
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS The South China Sea is the cockpit of geopolitics in East Asia. Five countries – Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam – plus Taiwan have substantial and competing territorial and maritime claims in a body of water that is both an important source of hydrocarbons and fisheries and a vital […]
In the dock for its aggressive expansionism in the South China Sea, China seems undeterred THE Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual powwow in Singapore for Asia-Pacific defence chiefs, has begun to follow a pattern: America and its friends in Asia line up to criticise China for its alleged transgressions in the seas around its coast; China […]
US RATCHETS UP PRESSURE ON CHINA The U.S. military has begun actively — and more publicly — challenging China’s sovereignty claims over half a dozen artificial islands Beijing has been rapidly constructing through massive land reclamation. On May 22, a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft — a militarized version of the Boeing 737 — […]
China has been rapidly expanding its occupied reefs in the Spratly archipelago, alarming other claimants and drawing sharp criticism from the United States, Japan and Europe. The fishing boat was reportedly near a reclaimed reef when the shot was fired. “If indeed this happened, it is a cause of grave concern,” Philippine defence minister Voltaire […]
The US recently sent P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft to monitor China’s deployments in the South China Sea region and has said that the country may send planes within the 12 nautical mile contiguous waters of the disputed islands, according to a piece by Liang Fang, a professor at China’s National Defense University, published on the […]
Security and prosperity have largely prevailed in the Asia-Pacific for the better part of the last seven decades. Today, however, the region is faced with the first major challenge to the very order that led to a secure and growing Asia. On the one hand, the United States is committed to preserving a long-standing alliance […]
The role of marine science and the emergence of China’s blue economy helped frame a new narrative on the South China Sea’s policy debate, as shown at a CSIS discussion on May 21 titled “The Convergence of Marine Science and Geopolitics in the South China Sea.” Two of the panelists John McManus from the University […]
A Chinese air defense identification zone over artificial islands that Beijing is building in the South China Sea will be a “serious cause for concern” for the Philippines, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Monday. China has not yet declared an air defense zone, but a declaration is seen as likely as Beijing […]
WASHINGTON— President Barack Obama warned that Southeast Asia risks becoming less prosperous as countries in the region undertake land reclamation and assert sovereignty over parts of the disputed South China Sea. Obama said that while some of China’s claims may turn out to be legitimate, it should stop “throwing elbows and pushing people out of […]