DECEMBER 30, 2016 BEIJING—In East Asia, anxiety about what 2017 holds in store is running as high as anywhere in the world. Here’s a look at some of the stories to keep an eye on as the year unfolds: Q. What will happen at the 19th National Party Congress in China? Every five years, the […]

Donald Trump’s unexpected victory has not only shocked the world but is also likely to shake up US foreign policy. While Trump’s unpredictability, campaign rhetoric and unclear foreign policy stance have left analysts and policymakers confused, there are enough hints that indicate significant change in US foreign policy towards Southeast Asia. US Foreign Policy under […]

Even as many yearn for the days when America’s influence kept geopolitics stable in the region, this may go down in history as the year when Asia no longer stood to attention when a US president cleared his throat. In the 1942 Hollywood classic Casablanca, Major Strasser of the Third Reich tells the French police […]

Just when the South China Sea seemed to have quietened down, two key players, China and the United States, have embarked on a series of provocative gestures. But the distrust between these major powers in the South China Sea inhibits their ability to deal with more serious issues in the region and the world at […]

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte’s foreign policy remains “directionless” six months into his administration, as the Philippines is left with few options to assert its claim in the South China Sea, a former diplomat said. It was “naive” of Duterte to warm up to China while “taking for granted” traditional Western allies, said retired Ambassador […]

Editor’s Note: This article is based in part on the author’s recent report for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, Countering China’s Adventurism in the South China Sea: Strategy Options for the Trump Administration. The policy of the United States and its close allies in the South China Sea has failed. Repeated statements of […]

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said he might be forced to confront China if the latter eventually extracts valuable resources from the disputed West Philippine Sea without the Philippines’ knowledge. Duterte has chosen to set aside an arbitral tribunal’s decision declaring China’s massive claim to the resource-rich sea as without basis, opting instead […]

Both China and the U.S. are increasingly using unmanned vehicles in contested waters. The seizure of a U.S. Navy unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) by China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) earlier this month was certainly unprecedented and may augur future frictions. Although the PLAN has since returned the UUV, this incident remains subject to debate. […]

Fighter jets on the deck of China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier during military drills in the Bohai Sea, off China’s northeast coast, this month. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images BEIJING — The Chinese military, in a move analysts described as a challenge to President-elect Donald J. Trump’s strident criticism of China, has deployed an aircraft […]

TAIPEI — A statement from China that daily civilian charter flights would serve the contested sea off its south coast raises the growing profile of civilians as a tool for governments to bolster their claims in Asia’s most widespread sovereignty dispute. The launch Thursday of flights from Haikou in southern China to Woody Island in […]