LAST month, President Duterte said outright: America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) planned to assassinate him. He didn’t give any reason why the CIA would want to do so, but not a few analysts think it is because of his getting close to Russia, the US’ arch-enemy even after the Cold War ended in the 1990s. […]

Nong Hong says the quick extraction of the Philippine navy ship from Half Moon Shoal indicates that, even though China-Philippines relations may face troubled political waters, economic considerations could provide an anchor. The Philippine navy frigate, the BRP Gregorio del Pilar, ran aground on Half Moon Shoal in waters off the disputed Spratly Islands on […]

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — An air defense zone declared by Beijing, or any effort to stop civilian ship traffic, would raise the risk of conflict in the disputed South China Sea after years of calm, because either move would inconvenience day-to-day operations, scholars who follow the region say. Five other militarily weaker maritime claimants have watched […]

MANILA, Philippines — Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad stressed his position on the South China Sea dispute amid Beijing’s expanding militarization of artificial islands in the region. In an interview with The Associated Press, the 93-year-old Malaysian leader called on China to respect the free movement of ships throughout the South China Sea. Malaysia to […]

SEMATAN: Luconia Shoals, which is located in the South China Sea and lies over Sunda Continental Shelf in the Malaysian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) within Sarawak’s territorial waters, has been gazetted as a marine national park. Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, in disclosing this, said the park is the biggest in the […]

Following in the wake of the US Navy, a British warship recently challenged China’s claims to the disputed South China Sea, provoking a confrontation with the Chinese military and triggering outrage in Beijing, Reuters reported Wednesday. The warship HMS Albion, an amphibious assault ship carrying a contingent of UK Royal Marines and one of three […]

China lashed out at Britain on Thursday for sending a warship close to disputed islands in the South China Sea, where Beijing has built military installations despite competing claims from other nations. The US and its allies have in recent times sent planes and warships to the area for “freedom of navigation” operations intended as […]

US private sector intelligence company Stratfor has tipped that the US will solidify its naval presence in the South China Sea in the latest bout of US-China rivalry. In its third quarter forecast, Stratfor also tipped that US President Donald Trump will continue to pile the tariffs on Chinese goods. That could certainly have a […]

BEIJING – A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves: ___ EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a weekly look at the latest […]

Philippines President Rodrigo R. Duterte was taking office in 2016 at just about the time that the Philippines won a historic case in the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague thoroughly humiliating China by ruling that all of China’s activities in the South China Sea are illegal and in violation of international […]