Philippine authorities have released satellite pictures of six reefs in the Spratly archipelago that indicate that the Chinese are building artificial structures in the disputed territories of the South China Sea. According to some observers, these features could allow China to extend the range of its navy, air force, coastguard and fishing fleets into the […]
The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) is a highly capable navy, although it is the smallest of Japan’s military branches. It is technologically more advanced, more experienced, and more highly trained than its main competitor – the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). Yet, in the long-run, the JMSDF and the Japanese Coast Guard (JCG) – Tokyo’s principle […]
China’s frantic construction activity on a series of disputed reefs in the South China Sea has set off alarm bells across the Pacific and in Washington, raising fears that Beijing is putting steel in the ground to back up its contentious claims to a big swath of one of the world’s key waterways. Since last […]
ARLINGTON, Va. — President Barack Obama’s new National Security Strategy, released Feb. 6, is an all-encompassing document but one that specifically addresses some maritime issues such as the Asia-Pacific rebalance, air and maritime freedom-of-navigation tensions that have arisen in recent years, the U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea, counterpiracy and Arctic access. “The […]
How is China pursuing its territorial claims in the South and East China Seas while also avoiding overt confrontations with the US and other regional powers? According to James Kraska, Beijing’s coercive actions fall short – quite intentionally – of what constitutes an ‘armed attack’ in international law. By James Kraska for Foreign Policy Research […]
China’s land reclamation efforts in the disputed South China Sea may eventually become the nation’s first island chain, allowing the nation to contain the US military facilities in Australia according to the Japan Military Review, a defense magazine based in Tokyo. Saburo Tanaka, a Japanese expert in Chinese military development said that the US bases […]
Over the last two months there have been several significant developments in improving the maritime capabilities of three Southeast Asian states: the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The Philippines In December 2014 President Benigno Aquino enacted the 2015 General Appropriations Act, approving governmental expenditure of Pesos (P) 2.6 trillion ($59 billion). On December 17, Rear Admiral […]
The United States and not China should write the trade rules for Asia, US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday night as he called on his country to speed up regional trade deals. In his annual State of the Union address in Washington, Obama warned that if China prevailed, American workers and businesses would be […]
From the air, the Spratly Islands, a cluster of miniature rocks and sandbars 425,000 kilometres square in the middle of the South China Sea, are almost imperceptible. Even up close, the Spratlys do not look like much – a few islands have tiny rocky beaches or occasional makeshift buildings. A tiny contingent of Filipino marines […]
Linda Jakobson’s recent report, China’s Unpredictable Maritime Security Actors, is an important contribution for China watchers, especially for those who seek to understand the relationship between Chinese actions associated with its maritime disputes in Asia and its broader strategic approach to the region. This relationship is an important policy question because observers, including myself, worry […]