China is close to completing the construction of an airstrip on a tiny outcrop in the South China Sea, heightening its ability to project power regionally from the disputed waters and further raising the stakes in an increasingly tense showdown between Beijing, its neighbors, and the United States. New satellite images provided to Foreign Policy […]
Unprecedented? Or perhaps even refreshing? For the first time, Beijing has offered a more elaborate clarification about its recent activities in the South China Sea? Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying, in response to a question posed during the ministry press conference on April 9 about Chinese land reclamation around the Meiji Reef […]
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said on April 13 that “China’s massive reclamation activities are causing irreversible and widespread damage to the biodiversity and ecological balance of the South China Sea.” It also said that the destruction of coral reef systems resulting from Beijing’s land reclamation projects is estimated to lead to economic losses […]
(Updated 12:38 p.m.) The Philippines on Monday said it finds “unacceptable” China’s claim that its massive reclamation work in several disputed South China Sea territories are not causing marine environment damage, warning that that coastal states stand to lose $100 million annually from Beijing’s activities. China’s ongoing reclamation activities, Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said, […]
China’s efforts to stake its claim to most of the South China Sea should spark fear around the world, with military conflict possible, Philippine President Benigno Aquino says. In an exclusive interview, Aquino also warned that China’s increasingly assertive actions raised the spectre of other nations having access cut to vital international shipping lanes and […]
WASHINGTON – China could eventually deploy radar and missile systems on outposts it is building in the South China Sea that could be used to enforce an exclusion zone over the disputed territory, the US military commander for Asia said on Wednesday. Admiral Samuel Locklear, speaking at a congressional hearing in Washington, described as “aggressive” the land reclamation and construction […]
China has spared no expense on its land reclamation activities in the South China Sea, spending an estimated 73.6 billion yuan (US$11.5 billion) on expanding Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratlys alone, reports our Chinese-language sister paper China Times. For at least a year, China has been actively reclaiming land on seven islands in the […]
TOKYO — An influential U.S. Navy official made waves recently with an unusually open criticism of Beijing. “China is creating a great wall of sand, with dredges and bulldozers, over the course of months,” he said. U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Harry Harris’ remarks highlight a growing sense of crisis among American military about Beijing’s recent behavior in […]
As Vietnam’s Communist Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong met with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing last week, China’s government news service Xinhua extolled a “deep-rooted partnership” between the two nations. But 400 kilometers off Vietnam’s coast, in the Paracel Islands, China was rapidly consolidating its hold on islands that both countries vehemently claim as […]
The United States and China have been trading barbs over each other’s ‘strength’ and ‘muscle’ as alarm continues to intensify about Beijing’s massive land reclamation activities in the South China Sea. U.S. President Barack Obama told a town-hall event in Jamaica last Thursday ahead of a Caribbean summit in Panama that Washington was concerned about […]