IMOA
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STILL UNDER PRESSURE: MANILA VERSUS THE MILITIA
Since early March, Chinese fishing vessels—apparently part of the country’s maritime militia force—have been operating near two Philippine-held features in the disputed Spratly Islands: Loaita Island and Loaita Cay, called Kota and Panata Islands by Filipinos. The Philippine press began to report this militia presence in early April, prompting the government to say it […]
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DUTERTE’S SCARBOROUGH SHOAL MOMENT
Three years into his quiescent China policy, Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte is experiencing a rude awakening in the South China Sea. The ongoing Chinese siege of the Philippines’ largest land feature in the Spratlys, Thitu Island, represents Duterte’s greatest foreign policy crisis and, ironically, the very country he has courted assiduously is at the […]
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‘NUCLEAR TRIAD’ – US-China relations at breaking point amid fears of Beijing dominance
THE US has become fearful of China’s quest to be the dominant global force amid the country’s development of a “nuclear triad”, according to a new Pentagon report. The Pentagon has insisted Beijing is close to completing an elite cohort of being able to deliver a nuclear strike by land, sea and air. In […]
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The Pentagon Reports: China’s Military Power
As Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Randall G. Schriver emphasized in his rollout remarks on May 2, 2019, “our annual report to Congress, which we refer to as the China Military Power Report… is our authoritative statement on how we view developments in the Chinese military, as well as how that […]
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HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT: CHINESE EXPANSION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Beijing’s geopolitical moves continue to obfuscate its larger designs, surprise observers, and render the United States and its allies reactive. The prospect of a Chinese naval base in Cambodia offers a case in point. This issue — seemingly obscure and inconsequential to many observers — made the news in late 2018 when American Vice […]
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China, Wary of US, Pushes to Accelerate Accident Prevention Deal in Disputed Sea
TAIPEI — China and Southeast Asian countries that dispute sovereignty over a strategic Asian sea aim to speed up talks toward a code of conduct that would lower the risk of accidents and help keep the U.S. government out of the fray. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said his country and a bloc of […]
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Two US warships sail near islands in South China Sea, angering China
Washington: The US military says two of its warships have sailed near islands claimed by China in the South China Sea, a move that has angered Beijing at a time of tense ties between the world’s two biggest economies. The US guided-missile destroyers Preble and Chung Hoon travelled within 12 nautical miles of Gaven and […]
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PH, US, India, Japan war ships passing through South China Sea
Navy ships of four countries wary of China’s growing military are conducting maritime exercises while passing through the South China Sea (locally referred to as West Philippine Sea), an area which is almost entirely claimed by China. Capt. Jonathan Zata, spokesman of the Philippine Navy, said that the decision to conduct maritime exercises came up […]
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US joins India, Japan and Philippines for South China Sea sail
The U.S. on Wednesday finished a weeklong sail through the South China Sea with India, Japan and the Philippines, a region fraught with tension amid disputed territorial claims, according to a Navy statement Thursday. The guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence joined the Indian navy destroyer INS Kolkata and tanker INS Shakti; Japan Maritime […]
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Will Xi Jinping Blockade Taiwan?
If Xi Jinping isn’t positioning himself and his nation to rectify the issue of Taiwan once and for all, then who will? Much is made of China’s obsessive need to “redress a national humiliation,” as a banner around a watch tower on the Great Wall trumpeted shortly before the handover of Hong Kong back to […]