SYDNEY – Some countries appear to view freedom of the seas as ”up for grabs” in the South China Sea, imposing superfluous warnings and restrictions that threaten stability, a U.S. Navy commander said on Tuesday in comments apparently aimed at China. Admiral Scott Swift, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said in a strongly worded […]
Until 1951, the U.S. Navy was governed by the Articles for the Government of the United States Navy, also known as “Rocks and Shoals” in part because Article 4, Section 10 stated that the punishment of death could be inflicted on any person in the naval service who intentionally or willfully caused a vessel to […]
Chinese ships back near the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. Japan’s Coast Guard identified three Chinese coast guard ships inside Japan’s territorial waters off the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea over the weekend. The Chinese vessels spent around two hours in Japan’s territorial waters. The incursion is the first since September 19. Separately, one of […]
Thee foreign minister of the Philippines, Albert del Rosario, has been the key strategist in his country’s fight to uphold its claims in the South China Sea against Beijing, which asserts ownership of most of that crucial waterway. Last week, Del Rosario spoke with Lally Weymouth. Excerpts follow: Foreign Policy: What did you think of […]
China maintains that it has “undisputable sovereignty” over the region, and that this had been the case “since ancient times.” Allies in the region – including Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, and Indonesia – would beg to differ. The United States’ chief concern is that Chinese expansion in the region will be militaristic. But […]
China is not only stealing and occupying Philippine Territories at the West Philippine Sea or Spratly regime if islands but it is, at the same time, also stealing massive quantities of soil from different parts of the Philippines for both mining and island-building purposes. In Davao Oriental alone, huge cargo ships from China have been […]
China hopes the United States can scale back activities that run the risk of misunderstandings, and respect China’s core interests, the Defence Ministry on Thursday cited a senior Chinese naval commander as saying. Each country has blamed the other for dangerous moves over several recent incidents of aircraft and ships from China and the United […]
Eric Heginbotham and his colleagues at RAND should be commended for their recent report “The U.S.-China Military Scorecard: Forces, Geography, and the Evolving Balance of Power, 1996–2017.” It is one of the very best publicly available assessments of aspects of a potential Sino-American war, and it makes a clear and compelling case of its central […]
Kerry on sea row: Rights of all claimants must be respected WASHINGTON – Should a UN tribunal rule it has jurisdiction over a case brought by the Philippines against China’s nine-dash claim over the South China Sea, any arbitral decision the court makes would be binding to both countries, US Assistant Secretary of State for […]
October 04, 2015 U.S. officials have indicated that the U.S. Navy will conduct freedom of navigation patrols near China’s artificial islands in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, Foreign Policy reports. The proposal to stage these operations has been under consideration for some time. During the summer, reports emerged that the White House […]