A few days ago, the U.S. Navy reported that it had detected five Chinese naval ships near the Aleutian Islands. The vessels – supposedly three Chinese combat ships, a replenishment vessel and an amphibious landing ship – were spotted transiting U.S. territorial waters near Attu, which is the easternmost island belonging to the U.S. in […]
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 […]
China’s nine-dash line will have its day in international court. On Thursday, October 29, the Permanent Court of Arbitration awarded its first decision in the The Republic of Philippines v. The People’s Republic of China. The court ruled that the case was “properly constituted” under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, […]
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 […]
AMSTERDAM, Oct 29 (Reuters) – An arbitration court in the Netherlands ruled on Thursday that it has jurisdiction to hear some territorial claims the Philippines has filed against China over disputed areas in the South China Sea. In a legal defeat for China, the Hague-based tribunal rejected Beijing’s claim that the disputes were about its […]
TV5 screenshot of the Permanent Court of Arbitration when it conducted hearings in The Hague last July. It said Thursday that the tribunal on UNCLOS has ruled to admit the Philippine case against China, resolving the issue of jurisdiction over the latter’s objections. MANILA – (UPDATE3, 1:51 a.m.) The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in […]