REUTERS/U.S. NAVY/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS A top U.S. official on Thursday said China’s land reclamation and militarization in the disputed South China Sea was raising tensions and serious questions about its intention. On a visit to Vietnam, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington would continue to play a constructive role in supporting its […]

The Japanese destroyers Ariake and Setogiri make a port call at Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay on April 12. TOKYO A maritime security net is closing in on China in the South China Sea, where Beijing is building artificial islands on reefs to erect military facilities in disputed waters. The U.S. plans to start joint patrols […]

Photo provided by the Armed Forces of the Philippines shows construction on Kagitingan (Fiery Cross) Reef in the Spratly Islands. STAR/Armed Forces of the Philippines, file MANILA, Philippines — China’s efforts to land a military plane to a Manila-claimed reef in the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea was provocative, the Department of National […]

FILE – Filipino student activists set fire mock Chinese ships to protest recent island-building and alleged militarization by China off the disputed Spratlys group of islands in the South China Sea, in Manila, March 3, 2016. FILE – Filipino student activists set fire mock Chinese ships to protest recent island-building and alleged militarization by China […]

Ambient tension in the South China Sea is high as Beijing continues to assertively push its claim for sovereignty over 3 million square kilometres, or 90 per cent of the South China Sea. Tension is set to rise further around April-end and early May when the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea delivers […]

The latest in tensions between the United States and China is the landing of a Chinese military aircraft on Fiery Cross Reef, one of several man-made islands built by China in the Spratly Island chain in the South China Sea. The Chinese claim the landing was for a humanitarian operation to evacuate three ill workers, […]

As it watches China build up its presence in the South China Sea, one reclaimed island at a time, the US military is betting on a new technology to help retain its edge — submarine drones. During the past six months, the Pentagon has started to talk publicly about a once-secret program to develop unmanned […]

BEIJING – China’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday rejected queries by the US military as to why China had used a military aircraft to evacuate sick workers from a new airport on an island China has built in the disputed South China Sea. CNN quoted Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis as saying it was unclear why […]

A ruling expected in the next few months in an international arbitration case the Philippines has brought against Beijing’s South China Sea claims must be binding, Britain said on Monday. British Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire also said that he sees the ruling from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague as an opportunity […]

CHINA’S RAPID ascent to great-power status has, more than any other international development, raised concerns about the future of the liberal international order. Forged in the ashes of the Second World War, that order has enabled a seven-decade period of great-power peace, the expansion of democratic rule and a massive increase in global prosperity. Now, […]