TOKYO — China’s surprise rejection of a port visit by a U.S. aircraft carrier last week could signal a further escalation of tensions in the disputed South China Sea. Chinese authorities refused last week to grant permission for the USS John C. Stennis battle group to make a routine port call at Hong Kong. It […]

Beijing has launched a charm offensive to shore up its position in the South China Sea ahead of a key international court decision widely expected to rule against its claims to the disputed waters. Over the past two weeks, China has seen successes in courting India, Russia, Pakistan, Belarus, Laos — and even Brunei, one […]

The rise of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) — when the history books have enough perspective to quantify and objectively examine its sheer spectacle — will certainly declare it the speediest accumulation of national power in all of human history. Whatever you think of its brutal authoritarian nature, Beijing has lifted hundreds of millions […]

Brunei is an absolute monarchist, Islamic state of 420,000 people on the north coast of Borneo, wedged into the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Indonesia and Malaysia own 99 percent of Borneo, which is the third largest island in the world, located at the maritime center of Southeast Asia. It has become a key pawn in […]

A specter is haunting Asia—the specter of full Chinese domination in the South China Sea. Latest reports suggest that China could soon move ahead with building military facilities on the Scarborough Shoal, a contested land feature it has occupied since 2012. This would allow China, according to a Mainland source, to “further perfect” its aerial […]

China’s surprise announcement of a consensus with Laos, Cambodia and Brunei on how they approach South China Sea disputes has generated predictable concern. The four points are: The dispute is between individual states rather than Asean as a bloc; these countries should be left to settle the dispute by themselves; they should do so without […]

CNA April 30, 2016, 12:14 am TWN TAIPEI–President Ma Ying-jeou said Friday that Japan’s claim that the Okinotori atoll is an “island” violates the rights of fishermen everywhere and that Taiwan is not ruling out the idea of submitting the dispute to international arbitration. Again commenting on the April 25 detention of a Taiwanese fishing […]

SINGAPORE: China urged Southeast Asian nations on Thursday to resolve territorial disputes through dialogue and repeated a warning of “negative consequences” if the Philippines wins an arbitration case in The Hague. Four Asean member states—the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei—have rival claims with China to parts of the South China Sea and tensions have mounted […]

China’s plans to build up a disputed island near the Philippines could lead to a regional conflict, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told Congress on Thursday. Carter was asked about the strategic significance of China’s plan to add military facilities to a disputed island known as Scarborough Shoal located about 120 miles—within missile range—of Subic Bay, […]

Amid heightened tensions with China over its territorial claims in the South China Sea, the Air Force sent an air contingent to Clark Air Base in the Philippines April 16. The move came just two days after Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin announced an “enhanced military alliance” between the […]