Monthly Archives: August 2014

Xisha (Paracel) Islands: The Inconvenient Truth – Analysis

The Xisha Islands (Paracel in English), consist of a group of about 30 islands, reefs, banks and cays in the South China Sea, with a maritime area of approximately 15,000 square kilometres. It is located about 180 nautical miles southeast of Hainan Island and about 260 nautical miles from the coast of Vietnam. There are […]

Move to ‘South China Sea air defence zone’?

BEIJING – China’s efforts to protect its submarine gateway to the South China Sea could broaden from stand-offs with US military planes to announcing an air defence identification zone (ADIZ), according to two retired army officers. China could seek to restrict the air space around Hainan Island as the US routinely runs surveillance flights in […]

China’s Occupation on Disputed South China Sea Continues, Says Philippines Government

The Philippines government has released a latest picture of reclamation work being done by China on one of the disputed Kennan [Chigua] reefs in the South China Sea. Obtained from intelligence sources in the government, the picture shows huge cranes, construction raw material, tin containers to be used as shelter for people and a cemented […]

Singapore and the Sea of Discontent

Southeast Asia is home to roughly 630 million people, who combined produce a GDP of around 2.4 trillion dollars. It is also a region beset with complicated territorial squabbles, stemming from border to sea-lane disputes. There are many fault lines in this region, and none are more volatile than the South China Sea, a misnomer […]

China Seeks to Protect South China Sea Submarine Gateway

China’s efforts to protect its submarine gateway to the South China Sea could broaden from standoffs with U.S. military planes to announcing an air defense identification zone, according to two retired army officers. China could seek to restrict the air space around Hainan Island as the U.S. routinely runs surveillance flights in the area, retired […]

China hastening work on reclamation projects in disputed waters–DFA

MANILA, Philippines – China is working double time on their reclamation projects in the South China Sea in order to complete their expansion agenda before the arbitration case is concluded, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Friday. “DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario has mentioned that these activities are now being hastened in anticipation of […]

Chinese naval push could affect global trade

Tensions in the South China Sea—scene of naval standoffs in the past year as China has pressed its smaller neighbors on the open sea—may seem far off to many Western investors, but any conflict in the region could affect the global economy. Coast guard vessels from China (rear) and Vietnam in a disputed part of […]

What China wants

MATTHEW BOULTON, James Watt’s partner in the development of the steam engine and one of the 18th century’s greatest industrialists, was in no doubt about the importance of Britain’s first embassy to the court of the Chinese emperor. “I conceive”, he wrote to James Cobb, secretary of the East India Company, “the present occasion to […]

Freedom of Navigation and China: What Should Europe Do?

Europe should take note of the challenge that China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi set the United States at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting earlier this month. In remarks to the press, Wang challenged Washington’s advocacy of high seas freedoms by arguing that the “current situation of the South China Sea is generally stable, and the […]