Australian leader warns that coercion risks provoking Asia-wide resistance Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull highlighted the dilemmas facing so-called “middle power” countries in his most significant address on regional affairs at the Shangri- La Dialogue meeting in Singapore of top defense officials. Some of what Turnbull said in his June 2 speech was familiar: the […]
Beijing’s man-made islands in the South China Sea are now bristling with military hardware as the country seeks to build more bases overseas, a US report says. The base on the hotly-contested Spratly Islands has been outfitted with 24 fighter-sized hangars, runways, water and fuel storage, a large port, communications equipment, fixed-weapon positions and a […]
Beijing’s man-made islands in the South China Sea are now bristling with military hardware as the country seeks to build more bases overseas, a US report says. The base on the hotly-contested Spratly Islands has been outfitted with 24 fighter-sized hangars, runways, water and fuel storage, a large port, communications equipment, fixed-weapon positions and a […]
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is fighting two wars: a diplomatic war in the South China Sea, and a real war against corruption and drug trafficking at home. He doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing in either of them, leaving the country deeply confused, divided, and at odds with friends and neighbors. That’s something investors […]
The U.S. government is challenging China over its dominant position in Asia’s major maritime sovereignty dispute, but those moves, after months of silence, are seen as aimed at reassuring nervous Southeast Asian countries rather than as a major anti-Beijing pivot. President Donald Trump has shelved the South China Sea issue for most of his nearly […]
The results of the 30th ASEAN Summit, held in Manila on April 29, were somewhat disappointing—though not surprising. The chairman’s statement did not come close to addressing the ongoing concerns of reclamation and militarization in the South China Sea, and in fact did not even mention them (in contrast to recent statements in Laos and […]
China is outfitting its controversial artificial islands in the South China Sea with warplane hangars and weapons, the Pentagon said in a report released Tuesday. According to the report, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force intends to base three regiments of warplanes there. “Although its land reclamation and artificial islands do not strengthen China’s territorial […]
The Trump Administration is starting to show some backbone on China’s territorial power play against its Southeast Asian neighbors in the South China Sea. But if the Philippines, Vietnam and others are to stand up to Chinese bullying, the U.S. needs to do more to show it is committed to the region’s stability. https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-markers-in-the-south-china-sea-1496746701
MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte still respects Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, even while the tough-talking leader has repeatedly blasted the magistrate for criticizing his foreign policy. The Palace made the comment in the wake of Carpio’s appearance at a media forum on Monday, where the magistrate warned that the administration’s foreign policy […]
MANILA, Philippines — US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson irked Beijing in his recent comment that China is using its economic powers to buy its way out of problems. “China is a significant economic and trading power, and we desire a productive relationship, but we cannot allow China to use its economic power to buy […]