For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the US Coast Guard (USCG) is actively joining the US Navy to constrain the maritime ambitions of a rival superpower in the Indo-Pacific, broadening America’s reach in disputed waterways. China’s deployment of increasingly sophisticated naval forces to the South China Sea has driven […]

  THE US NAVY has drafted in the US Coast Guard (USCG) to help it constrain China’s aggressive expansionist ambitions in the South China Sea, as tensions continue to rise in the region. This is the first time since the end of the Cold War that the USCG has been deployed in this capacity. As […]

  CHINA is asserting its authority in the contested waters of the South China Sea with controversial foreign policy and invasive military activity, but it is domestic issues in Beijing that rivals Australia have issued a defiant warning over. Canberra has told President Xi Jinping via a statement that it will hold Beijing to account […]

  HMS Queen Elizabeth is still on track to deploy to the Far East in 2021 – although whether it will actually sail through the South China Sea is yet to be explicitly confirmed – with escorting warships from the US and the Netherlands, according to reports. The UK Defence Journal recently reported that Big […]

  PETALING JAYA: A defence expert has backed Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah’s call for an expansion of Malaysia’s naval fleet in the South China Sea, saying the country’s defences need to keep up with China’s. Aruna Gopinath, a former lecturer at the National Defence University, told FMT she would disagree with any suggestion that such […]

  MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines and China are eyeing possible cooperation in the areas of maritime research, protection, and fisheries cooperation in the South China Sea, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced on Tuesday, October 29. The DFA said this was considered as working groups on political security, fisheries cooperation, and marine scientific […]

  THE Philippines has ramped up pressure on China to sign up to a code on conduct in the disputed South China Sea. Filipino Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Junever Mahilum-West said discussions over the disputed waters is “unavoidable” ahead of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit. Leaders from the Southeast Asian states including […]

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines, not China, needs oil and gas resources in the South China Sea, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said. “Uh China doesn’t need our oil and gas. We do. And China is the only one offering to help develop it,” Locsin tweeted Monday. West Philippine Sea joint exploration not a […]

  MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Leni Robredo does not believe the looming joint oil and gas exploration deal with China is fair to Filipinos, as the foreign country has yet to recognize the Philippines’ sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea. On Monday, October 28, Robredo said she does not agree with National Security Adviser […]

  MANILA (Manila Times) – President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to push for the completion of the long-delayed code of conduct in the South China Sea when he attends the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meeting in Thailand this week, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Monday. In a pre-departure briefing in […]