MANILA, Philippines – Retired Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio disagreed with Vice President Leni Robredo’s demand that the Philippine government must require China to recognize Philippine ownership and sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea before pursuing a contract for oil and gas exploration. Carpio took this position as he explained that […]

  The Philippines must prepare for the double-edged sword of Chinese spending. This potential for China ‘weaponizing’ tourism has a history. “It’s more Chinese in the Philippines” might – or might not – be a universally welcomed goal of the Philippine Department of Tourism given the ebb and flow, and the positive and negative consequences, […]

  THE PHILIPPINES are planning a new nuclear programme amid heightening tensions with China which has seen political uproar and weapons readied with the help of US support. China’s aggression in the South China Sea has led to persistent bickering between Manila and Beijing with an arms race now fully under way in the region, […]

  For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the US Coast Guard (USCG) is actively joining the US Navy to constrain the maritime ambitions of a rival superpower in the Indo-Pacific, broadening America’s reach in disputed waterways. China’s deployment of increasingly sophisticated naval forces to the South China Sea has driven […]

  THE US NAVY has drafted in the US Coast Guard (USCG) to help it constrain China’s aggressive expansionist ambitions in the South China Sea, as tensions continue to rise in the region. This is the first time since the end of the Cold War that the USCG has been deployed in this capacity. As […]

  CHINA is asserting its authority in the contested waters of the South China Sea with controversial foreign policy and invasive military activity, but it is domestic issues in Beijing that rivals Australia have issued a defiant warning over. Canberra has told President Xi Jinping via a statement that it will hold Beijing to account […]

  HMS Queen Elizabeth is still on track to deploy to the Far East in 2021 – although whether it will actually sail through the South China Sea is yet to be explicitly confirmed – with escorting warships from the US and the Netherlands, according to reports. The UK Defence Journal recently reported that Big […]

  PETALING JAYA: A defence expert has backed Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah’s call for an expansion of Malaysia’s naval fleet in the South China Sea, saying the country’s defences need to keep up with China’s. Aruna Gopinath, a former lecturer at the National Defence University, told FMT she would disagree with any suggestion that such […]

  MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines and China are eyeing possible cooperation in the areas of maritime research, protection, and fisheries cooperation in the South China Sea, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced on Tuesday, October 29. The DFA said this was considered as working groups on political security, fisheries cooperation, and marine scientific […]

  THE Philippines has ramped up pressure on China to sign up to a code on conduct in the disputed South China Sea. Filipino Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Junever Mahilum-West said discussions over the disputed waters is “unavoidable” ahead of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit. Leaders from the Southeast Asian states including […]