Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) and Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (right) wave as they leave the Presidential Palace for the Headquarters of the Vietnam Communist Party for official talks in Hanoi on November 5, 2015. Photo: Hoang Dinh Nam/Reuters Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Vietnam this week, the first […]
In yesterday’s post, we asked “What did the Navy do in the South China Sea?” That wasn’t a rhetorical question. The Department of Defense hadn’t yet clearly explained what the USS Lassen did during its recent freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in the South China Sea. Nor has it explained the precise legal basis for […]
The Chinese government injected funds into Nanjing University to carry out research on South China Sea issues. With the funds, the university has established the Collaborative Innovation Center of South China Sea Studies. Zhu Feng, once a professor at Peking University’s School of International Studies, was tapped for the center’s executive director position and Wu […]
MANILA (UPDATED WITH VIDEO)- Whoever succeeds President Benigno Aquino III should uphold the country’s claims against China over territories in the West Philippine Sea or end up a laughingstock, Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said. Carpio said while there is no legal impediment to a “conciliatory” president withdrawing the case the country has filed against […]
On October 29th, in a unanimous decision, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague issued its first, preliminary ruling concerning whether the Tribunal has ‘jurisdiction’ over the issues raised by the Philippines against China’s so called ‘nine-dash line’ in the South China Sea. The Tribunal held that in about half of the Philippines’ fifteen […]
US defence secretary Ash Carter has visited an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea’s contested waters, in what is seen as a signal to China. He called his visit to the USS Theodore Roosevelt “a symbol” of America’s stabilising presence in the region. Mr Carter said any concern over his visit was due to […]
IT IS not just towards Taiwan that China has been showing a friendlier face. Recent days have seen a flurry of high-level diplomacy that has helped calm some of its many other quarrels in Asia. China’s president, Xi Jinping, has paid a rare state visit to Vietnam, despite continuing tensions over competing claims in the […]
Two recent events in the West Philippine Sea have been cause for celebration in the Philippines. The first and most important was the ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration stating that the court has jurisdiction to hear the Philippine maritime claims filed against China over disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea. Two […]
The US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen sails in the Pacific Ocean. The U.S. Navy sent a guided-missile destroyer within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands built by China in the South China Sea on October 27, 2015. (REUTERS Photo) In late October, the American destroyer USS Lassen sailed within the 12 nautical mile territorial […]
The eagerly-anticipated freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) by the United States Navy (USN) in the South China Sea was initially viewed as a strong demonstration of the United States’ resolve that the waters surrounding China’s artificial islands and claimed reefs are high seas. China’s attempt to establish a de facto12 nautical mile territorial sea around […]