Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida has told his Philippine counterpart that Japan supports a case that the Philippines filed against China over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea, according to sources. Kishida held talks with Albert del Rosario on Friday during his visit to Hiroshima to attend a foreign ministers’ meeting for the Nonproliferation […]
China is facing serious challenges to its maritime rights, with its resources being plundered and seas carved up, a senior oceanic official said Friday. Some islands have been encroached on and the security of strategic thoroughfares is threatened. Various conflicts have occurred in China’s waters, said Liu Cigui, director of the State Oceanic Administration (SOA), […]
Dictatorial regimes are subjecting the democratic West to two spectacles of weakness: the seeming inability to counter Russian aggression in Ukraine and to counter China’s aggression in the South China Sea. In both cases, a failure to respond will only invite a greater challenge and the specter of war. While the Obama administration and our […]
Well, this is certainly a fun way to protest territorial aggression. This week, Vietnam and the Philippines announced that their navies will hold a party on a South China Sea island in June. Sailors from the two countries are planning on getting together to drink some beer, listen to music, play volleyball and shoot the breeze. […]
The Ayungin Shoal recently came into focus in the Philippine public mind when Chinese coast guard ships prevented a Philippine civilian government boat from provisioning the marine outpost aboard the derelict BRP Sierra Madre. The latter was intentionally grounded by the Philippines in 1999, four years after the Chinese troops seized the nearby Mischief Reef […]
China’s “nine-dash line,” it seems, now extends to the Dong Yu Grand Ballroom C, one of the main venues at the Boao Forum for Asia. The interrupted line drawn on Chinese maps marks its claim to virtually the entire South China Sea. China has been more aggressively trying to assert its control over the area, […]
On March 30, the Philippines submitted a memorial detailing its arguments and evidence against China’s nine-dash line and other aspects of Beijing’s South China Sea claims to an arbitration tribunal at The Hague. The 10-volume, nearly 4,000-page document marks a bold step by Manila, and one that Beijing seems to have believed never would actually […]
The United States’ top Navy commander in the Pacific has launched a stinging attack on China’s ”aggressive” military growth, warning that Beijing’s assertiveness is a ”witches’ brew” for a naval standoff. In unusually strong language, Admiral Harry Harris, Commander of the US Pacific Fleet, branded China’s establishment of a controlled flight zone around islands disputed […]
As I noted last week, one of the more interesting aspects of the international response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea was the reaction of emerging powers like China and India. Despite the importance they have long placed on respect for sovereignty, all the emerging nations refused to criticize Russia’s seizure of territory belonging to Ukraine. […]
WASHINGTON – Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan has warned the Philippines and Japan not to test China’s resolve to safeguard its national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, saying the Chinese military can be assembled quickly to fight and win any battle. The Chinese official raised the warning in a joint press conference in Beijing with […]