TAIPEI — A U.S. aircraft carrier group is preparing to sail through the contested South China Sea later this month, and observers expect an angry Beijing to register its opposition and quicken its militarization of small islands in the region. The group of ships led by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and guided missile […]

Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin says that the amount of compensation from Russia for violations of Ukraine’s rights in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait will be considerable, but the amount of compensation will be determined by the International Tribunal. “We deliberately do not call the amount, because Russia […]

WHEN Malcolm Turnbull met Donald Trump, China was a big talking point. It’s what our Prime Minister didn’t say that may provoke the superpower. THE Australian Navy may be preparing for a direct independent venture into the South China Sea. Australia has traditionally avoided direct participation in freedom-of-navigation exercises so as not to affect diplomatic […]

MANILA, Philippines — A lack of a coherent Philippine policy on China and its usual accommodation of Beijing’s interests may have contributed to the consolidation of Chinese military presence in the West Philippine Sea, an analyst said. According to Jose Antonio Custodio, a non-resident fellow of think tank Stratbase Albert Del Rosario Institute, a careless […]

CHINA has established military bases on islands built up in the South China Sea, including the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, but can Beijing defend them in an armed conflict? The question was posed by defense and security analyst Robert Farley in his article that appeared Feb. 19 in The National Interest, an American bimonthly international […]

China is turning its newly-built islands in the South China Sea into bases so it can enforce its claim to own the entire international waterway, according to a senior Pentagon official. “It’s not about finding 12 nautical miles more” territory for China around the edges of the controversial islands, “it’s really about enforcing a very […]

History offers lessons for the coming legal and geopolitical debates in space. On January 20, 1788, Captain Arthur Philip sailed into Botany Bay at the helm of the British flagship Sirius and a convoy of transports to realize the United Kingdom’s new claim to Terra Australis. After a 252-day journey to the farthest known edges […]

Mearsheimer’s Big Question: Can China Rise Peacefully? During a trip to Australia this month, UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that HMS Sutherland, a British frigate currently deployed to Australia and the Western Pacific, would return from its tour via the South China Sea, “making it clear our navy has a right to do that”. […]

Ships from mainland China amassed around 17 million hours of fishing in 2016, mostly off the southern coast of their home country, but also as far away as Africa and South America. The next-biggest operation is Taiwan’s, with 2.2 million hours of fishing. The data, collected and analysed over five years by Global Fishing Watch, […]

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 22) — If the Philippines’ central mapping agency names Benham Rise features, China’s names will have no bearing, Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said Thursday. Carpio suggested designating the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) to approve proposed names for features in the country’s extended continental shelf, […]