The Philippines told China to stop “coercion and intimidation” in the South China Sea during an exchange of responses at the 70th UN General Assembly (UNGA). “Join the deliberations of the artibral tribunal and to let the merits be decided upon on the basis of international law and with transparency rather than by recourse to […]
BENEATH the islands invaded by China in the West Philippine Sea are 13 trillion dollars of proven huge reserve of gas as well as vast amount of oil that are the primary reasons of the dispute that continues to rage with no end in sight since China has been constructing its militay bases in the […]
Chinese ships back near the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. Japan’s Coast Guard identified three Chinese coast guard ships inside Japan’s territorial waters off the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea over the weekend. The Chinese vessels spent around two hours in Japan’s territorial waters. The incursion is the first since September 19. Separately, one of […]
Thee foreign minister of the Philippines, Albert del Rosario, has been the key strategist in his country’s fight to uphold its claims in the South China Sea against Beijing, which asserts ownership of most of that crucial waterway. Last week, Del Rosario spoke with Lally Weymouth. Excerpts follow: Foreign Policy: What did you think of […]
China hopes the United States can scale back activities that run the risk of misunderstandings, and respect China’s core interests, the Defence Ministry on Thursday cited a senior Chinese naval commander as saying. Each country has blamed the other for dangerous moves over several recent incidents of aircraft and ships from China and the United […]
With a two-day late joint communiqué, foreign ministers of Southeast Asian countries have shown not only worries over Beijing’s island building in the South China Sea, but also a more polarised regional body that is failing to back up its words with action. In the statement dated August 4, but released only on Thursday night, […]
MANILA denied Friday China’s claim that Japan and the Philippines ganged up against China at a regional security forum this week on the disputed South China Sea. Foreign Affairs spokesperson Charles Jose said there was no team-up between Japan and the Philippines, saying it was simply what the two countries saw was happening in the […]
On December 7, 2014, China’s Foreign Ministry was authorized to release the “Position Paper of the Government of the People’s Republic of China on the Matter of Jurisdiction in the South China Sea Arbitration Initiated by the Republic of the Philippines.” Various explanations have been offered for this by media outlets both in China and […]
MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang yesterday rejected China’s renewed offer of bilateral talks to settle the West Philippine Sea dispute, saying only by engaging other members of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) can any negotiation on the issue be acceptable. “The Philippine position is clear: the principle of ASEAN centrality should be recognized in accordance […]
This May, China’s Ministry of Defense published a white paper, “China’s Military Strategy,” only a few months after the United States’ most recent National Security Strategy (NSS) was released. It is revealing to compare the two documents, both to see how each nation envisions the other in a strategic context, and because it adds to […]