Tsai Ing-wen is new to the job and the strain is beginning to show. Elected president of Taiwan in a landslide victory, she took office in May, buoyed by high approval ratings. Yet in a few short months, Tsai’s popularity has plunged by 25%. The reason may be summed up in one word: China. Suspicious […]

Duterte has picked fights with Obama and with the EU. His behaviour is shaking the US-Philippine alliance and stability in Southeast Asia. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte speaks during a news conference in Davao after Norwegian national Kjartan Sekkingstad was freed from the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Islamist militant group in Jolo, Sulu in southern Philippines […]

“China appears to be testing opportunities on its maritime borders – where is the weak spot it can exploit?” http://thediplomat.com/2016/09/south-china-sea-how-to-prevent-china-from-changing-the-status-quo/

Managing Director of Risk Cooperative / Co-author of “Global Risk Agility and Decision Making”. Even after The Hague decision, China’s government continues to vociferously argue that its ‘nine-dash line’ of sovereignty over the entire South China Sea is based on centuries of maritime history, and that China’s claim is air tight. In a letter to […]

BEIJING: China is capable of flying drones over the disputed South China Sea to keep a watch over the contested waters spread over 3.5 million square km. These indigenous drones will hover over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea claimed by both China and Japan, an official said. “Many of the islands and […]

President Barack Obama’s final address to the UN General Assembly featured a pointed swipe at Beijing’s aggressive moves to militarise “a few rocks and reefs” in the South China Sea. “A peaceful resolution of disputes offered by law will mean far greater stability,” he said. Indeed, installing airstrips and missiles on reclaimed land would represent […]

Rodrigo Duterte has described any criticism from the US as a violation of Philippine sovereignty. To assert Philippine independence from the US, Duterte has openly suggested sourcing military hardware from Russia and China, writes Heydarian [Reuters]To assert Philippine independence from the US, Duterte has openly suggested sourcing military hardware from Russia and China, writes “No, […]

Last month, Japan’s defense ministry requested a record budget of about $51 billion for fiscal 2017. At the top of its security worries: China’s maritime aggression. Japan has reason to worry. In both the East China Sea and South China Sea, Tokyo faces an increasingly assertive China that looks determined to become an unfettered maritime […]

A British geographer and journalist described China’s claims to large swaths of seas and land formations off its coast are based on 20th-century events — from the Boxer Rebellion to the defeat of Japan in World War II — and not deeply rooted in its history. This assertion brought several heated questions from the audience. […]

IT IS already being described as the moment when America’s “pivot” to Asia was seen to have gone awry. Not the shock when Rodrigo Duterte, the new president of the Philippines, an American ally, caused titters by calling Barack Obama the “son of a whore”—but when he called a few days later for an end […]