MANILA, Philippines — Beijing exercises “low-intensity coercion” to assert its claim on the South China Sea, the US Department of Defense or the Pentagon said in its annual report to the US Congress. In its report, the Pentagon noted that the People’s Liberation Army, the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) and the People’s Armed Forces Maritime […]

President Rodrigo Duterte has warned of trouble if China will monopolize the exploitation of oil and mineral deposits in the disputed South China Sea. In a speech in Cebu City on Tuesday, Duterte quipped that he will deploy Interior and Local Government officer-in-charge Eduardo Año to the strategic waterway to attack the Chinese if they […]

A country that once courted Chinese investment now fears becoming overly indebted for big projects that are neither viable nor necessary — except to China. KUANTAN, Malaysia — In the world’s most vital maritime chokepoint, through which much of Asian trade passes, a Chinese power company is investing in a deepwater port large enough to […]

The United States will be “a good ally” to the Philippines in responding to territorial conflicts in the South China Sea, a US defence official said Thursday. Randall Schriver, assistant secretary of defence for Asian and Pacific security affairs, gave the assurance as tensions rise over China’s aggressive stance towards its claims to most of […]

A COMMERCIAL transaction on a joint exploration with China in the West Philippine Sea should adopt the Malampaya model and must be done according to the Constitution, former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said. The Philippine government and the Malampaya consortium have a 60-40 sharing of revenues for the gas deposits off the shore of […]

A distinct likely prospect now is the signing next month of a Philippines-China framework agreement for joint exploration for hydrocarbons, for oil and/or natural gas, in the West Philippine Sea, which will reduce or put an end to chances of conflict in the area. The area of the waters within the Philippines’ 370-kilometer Exclusive Economic […]

America’s excessive involvement in the South China Sea has forced China to deploy more defensive equipment in the area. What happens now? No One Lost the South China Sea (And No One Will) As we all see, the situation in the South China Sea is cooling down, and the biggest variable is the emerging Sino-U.S. […]

The Maritime Self-Defense Force will hold joint military exercises with five Asian navies and the U.S. during a rare long-term dispatch to the South China Sea and Indian Ocean, the Defense Ministry’s Maritime Staff Office has said, in a move certain to stoke anger in Beijing. Japan announced Tuesday that it will send three vessels […]

Can the South China Sea become a front in the U.S.-China trade war? Over the past month, the Trump administration has stepped up its trade war with China, with uncertain results thus far. But the scope of the war has increased, from a tight focus on the appropriation of high technology to broader trade concerns. […]

Twice last week, President Duterte complained about China’s activities in the South China Sea–a stark departure from his pandering stand since the start of his presidency. Always, he was all praises for China’s President Xi Jinping, who will be coming here for a state visit in November, for the military equipment that he said was […]