BEIJING — As China boosts its military spending, rattling neighbors over territorial disputes at sea, an AFP investigation shows that European countries have approved billions in transfers of weapons and military-ready technology to the Asian giant. China’s air force relies on French-designed helicopters, while submarines and frigates involved in Beijing’s physical assertion of its claim […]
MANILA, Philippines – By listening to its neighbors, China can realize that they are not adversaries but “willing partners” in its quest for regional development and stability, visiting US President Barack Obama said yesterday. Asked to comment on China’s growing aggressiveness in staking its claims in the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea, Obama […]
MANILA, Philippines – “I feel as if I have been slapped, or ordered to melt into the wallpaper.” Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago took strong exception to the signing of a military deal between the Philippines and the United States without Senate approval. Just hours after the ceremony, the chairperson of the Senate foreign affairs committee […]
As the Filipino and American governments formally signed the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) Monday, US Ambassador Philip Goldberg said that the forging of this latest initiative will greatly aid in the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). “It (EDCA) will also support the shared goal of promoting the long term modernization […]
Baby steps, baby steps. Last week, some twenty Pacific navies meeting at the Western Pacific Naval Symposium in Qingdao agreed to what participants are styling as a Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES). CUES, like the Cold War-vintage INCSEA agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia, calls on mariners to forego provocative […]
BEIJING—China, the United States, Japan and more than a dozen other Asia-Pacific countries have signed a naval agreement aimed at ensuring miscommunication between ships at sea does not escalate into conflict. The Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, which was agreed Tuesday in the eastern port city of Qingdao, would reduce the potential for “situations […]
BEIJING, April 23 (Xinhua) — The US-Japan alliance, a bilateral arrangement made in the Cold War, should not undermine China’s territorial sovereignty and legitimate rights, a Chinese spokesman said on Wednesday. The comment came after U.S. President Barack Obama said the Diaoyu Islands “fall within the scope of Article 5 of the US-Japan Treaty of […]
(Reuters) – China will not “swallow the bitter pill” of ceding its sovereign rights to others, a senior military official told foreign naval leaders on Wednesday, as the country takes an increasingly assertive approach to guarding its maritime territory. “No country should expect China to swallow the bitter pill of our sovereignty, national security or […]
President Benigno Aquino III will be clarifying the terms of support of the United States to the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea dispute during US President Barack Obama’s visit next week, Malacañang hinted Wednesday. At a press conference, Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma Jr. said Aquino and Obama will discuss defense, political, […]
During his recent visit to Beijing, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel received some harsh criticism from his Chinese military counterpart General Fan Changlong. Before arriving in Beijing, Hagel had stated: “You cannot go around the world and redefine boundaries and violate territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations by force, coercion and intimidation whether it’s in […]