In the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), China continues its “reclamation” projects on several disputed reefs which appears to be future airstrips and harbors meant to accommodate jets and warships. Aside from posing security threats to countries in Southeast Asia, these reclamation projects have also been termed as an ecological catastrophe because the reclamation destroys the […]
A handful of Democrats and Republicans have expressed an interest in running for their party’s 2016 presidential nomination while others are considering. Whoever is elected as the next president of the United States, he/she should place higher priority on the South China Sea (SCS). Why? First, the SCS has emerged as a central aspect of […]
China’s aggressive actions in the South China Sea are prompting a soul-searching query from Hanoi to Washington: At what point does a sliced-up salami cease being a salami at all? In a short space of time, China’s unilateral and incremental efforts to carve out a greater presence in the South China Sea — by, for […]
When Hillary Clinton joined Barack Obama’s “Team of Rivals” in 2009 she announced her foreign policy priorities by flying straight to Tokyo, Jakarta, Seoul and Beijing. This realignment from George W. Bush’s adventures in Iraq grew into her “pivot” to Asia, and Obama’s “rebalancing” and, eventually, a region-wide hedge against Chinese aggression. In contrast, when […]
On Thursday, the the U.S. and Indonesian navies carried out a joint maritime air patrol in the waters around the Natuna archipelago. The patrol involved 88 personnel overall. The United States committed a P-3C Orion fleet comprising four ships and 21 personnel. In terms of Indonesian hardware, the Indonesian navy committed CN-235 and NC-212 short […]
A bipartisan effort is emerging to highlight dangerous trends in Asia—and specifically in the South China Sea. But will Obama listen? The balance of power in Asia is changing—and not in Washington’s favor. No longer can the United States count on simply massing forces Gulf War I style and quickly coming to the aid of […]
Philippine President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for the first time and shook hands last November 21 in Beijing. It was a historic occasion because the two countries had been locked in territorial disputes over islands and reefs in the West Philippine Sea ( South China Sea) for the past few […]
The United States is making a “fatal mistake” by antagonizing both China and Russia and forcing the two primary opponents closer together, says Duowei News, a US-based Chinese political news website. Washington turned against Moscow following the start of the Ukraine crisis in February this year, leading the European Union and Japan in imposing heavy […]
BRISBANE, Australia – President Barack Obama sought on Saturday to reassure Asia-Pacific allies about Washington’s strategic shift toward the region as he sent a veiled message to a rising China with a vow to “deepen our engagement using every element of our power”. Speaking in Australia on the final stop of a three-country regional tour, […]
If a country cites international law to justify its position while avoiding having that position tested in court, such use of international law is just rhetoric, and does not deserve support from scholars. In the article “Separating fact from fiction in South China Sea conundrum”,[1] Dr Mark Valencia decries “a veritable fountain of government pronouncements, propaganda, […]