The upcoming US-ASEAN summit on February 15-16 in Rancho Mirage, California provides an opportunity for the Obama administration to boldly demonstrate its rebalance towards Asia, and for the U.S. Senate to assert America’s national interests by ratifying the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Since the ten countries that make up ASEAN […]
Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, asserted his country’s claim on Taiping, or Itu Aba, in the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea, by taking a day trip to the mostly barren rock formation on January 28, 2016. United States and Philippine officials were quick to issue disapproving statements regarding Ma’s first visit to Itu Aba […]
The United States is considering the possibility of holding joint maritime patrols with the Philippines in the disputed South China Sea (West Philippine Sea). “We do discuss that principle with the Philippines and so I am not discarding that possibility,” US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg said in a forum on Wednesday. He, however, […]
The Japanese government is to spend Y13 billion (HK$838.3 million) on rebuilding facilities on Okinotorishima, a tiny atoll 1,740 km south of Tokyo that helps to extend Japan’s exclusive economic zone into the Pacific Ocean. The tiny land mass is only above water because two parts of the coral reef have been protected by concrete […]
China claims the sailing of a U.S. Navy warship on Saturday into what it calls its territory was needless provocation and an attempt at causing trouble amongst China’s neighbors. What precedent is there for these close calls in disputed maritime territories to escalate? How close was this close call? Had things in fact calmed down […]
Considering the multiple overlapping claims in the South China Sea, bilateral talks alone cannot yield a lasting solution. However, engaging in more inclusive dialogue will prove difficult for as long China – whose claims in these waters bring it into conflict with all the other claimants – remains averse to multilateral talks. Part of […]
In this June 4, 2010, file photo, the USS Curtis Wilbur arrives at a naval base in Busan, South Korea, for South Korea-U.S. joint drills. China strongly condemned the United States after the missile destroyer deliberately sailed near one of the Beijing-controlled islands in the hotly contested South China Sea to exercise freedom of navigation […]
Australia has emphatically backed the latest incursion by the United States into the South China Sea and has hinted at naval and air missions of its own. Following Saturday’s exercise in which the US guided missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur angered Beijing by sailing near a disputed island in the South China Sea, Australian Defence […]
The Chinese Navy will likely deploy an aircraft carrier for permanent operations in the South China Sea, where China and other countries in the region are feuding over competing territorial claims, an expert said. Professor Chu Shulong, the director of the Institute of International Strategic and Development Studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing, told IHS […]
Wading into choppy political waters, Taiwan’s outgoing president Thursday paid a visit to a disputed islet in the South China Sea and called for peace as China, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines vie more aggressively for territory and influence in the region. Ma Ying-jeou largely couched his visit to Taiping Island, also known as Itu […]