News
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Chinese general DELIBERATELY vague on extent of South China Sea claims?
CHINA – Pushed at a security forum to clarify China’s nine-dash line claiming almost the whole of the South China Sea, a senior Chinese military official would only say how it came about but avoided spelling out the extent of the claim. Some observers suggested that this ambiguity on China’s part is deliberate as it wants to keep its options…
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China ordered to submit counter-argument in sea dispute by Dec. 15 Read more: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/105670/china-ordered-to-submit-counter-argument-in-sea-dispute-by-dec-15#ixzz33oE9C04E Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
MANILA, Philippines–China has been ordered by the international Arbitral Tribunal handling the maritime dispute case filed by the Philippines to file its counter-memorial, or counter-argument, by Dec. 15, despite its position that it will not participate in the arbitration. “In Procedural Order No. 2, the Arbitral Tribunal fixes December 15, 2014 as the date for China to submit its Counter-Memorial…
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Designs of China’s planned base on Mabini Reef surface
MANILA, Philippines — Chinese designs of a proposed man-made island on Philippine-claimed Mabini (Johnson South) Reef in the South China Sea were recently released by an arm of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation. The Ninth Design and Research Institute of the state-owned contractor bared three-dimensional design plans for reclamation project on disputed waters showing an artificial island consisting of military…
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Japan, Lawfare and the East China Sea
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, China, Diaoyu, East China Sea, EEZ, Jaan, Senkaku, Shinzo Abe, South China Sea DisputeIn an article published by The Diplomat on May 29, Jerome Cohen makes an impassioned and well-reasoned argument for states in East Asia to utilize independent, third-party arbitration mechanisms wherever possible to challenge China’s maximalist claims. This was very much the theme of a question I asked Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his opening keynote address at this year’s Shangri-La…
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Reed Bank: South China Sea flashpoint
The Philippines is seeking to develop the seabed hydrocarbon resources of Reed Bank in the South China Sea, an area under dispute with China. Should Manila put plan to action, Beijing is likely to dispatch enforcement vessels to disrupt such activities. Given the deteriorating bilateral relationship, tensions between the two countries are in danger of escalating to the point of…
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China: S. China Sea claims lawful, based on historical record
At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Deputy Chief of China’s PLA General Staff, Lieutenant General Wang Guanzhong answered press questions about the Nine Dash Line, the demarkation line used by China for its South China Sea territorial claims. Wang Guanzhong, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, speaks during the fourth plenary session of the 13th…
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Signs of rule of law in Asia’s Wild West
Arbitration, China, Diaoyu, East China Sea, Japan, Oil Rig, Paracels, Senkaku, Shinzo Abe, South China Sea Dispute, UNCLOS, VietnamOne reason the world pays so much attention to a white-knuckle struggle over East Asia’s seas and islands is that the watery clashes resemble the bad old days of America’s Wild West. Brute force competes with the law. Crude power tries to trump principles applicable to all. A grand battle is underway to create a permanent rulebook. The players in…
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Chinese General: South China Sea Disputes May Turn China into ‘Qualified Enemy’ of US
China, Chuck Hagel, Foreign Relations, Intentional Rammings, Oil Rig, Philippines, Poaching, Qualified Enemy, Sinkings, South China Sea Dispute, Spratlys, USA, VietnamChinese Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu told The Wall Street Journal this week that he believes the United States is making “very, very important mistakes” with regard to territorial disputes in the South China Sea and that continuing the approach preferred by the Obama Administration will force China to become a “qualified enemy” of the U.S. Zhu was speaking in particular about…
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Vietnam, others could haul China into world court: academic
HANOI — Vietnam, Japan and the Philippines could try going to an international court in a coordinated push against China, Trinh Hoa Binh of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences argued in a recent interview. Tensions between Vietnam and its huge neighbor to the north have run high since Beijing planted an oil rig in a disputed area of the…
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Vietnam accuses China of sinking fishing boat
China, Intentional Rammings, Oil Rig, Paracels, Sinkings, South China Sea Dispute, Vietnam, Water CannonHANOI, Vietnam (AP) Vietnam and China traded accusations Tuesday over who was the aggressor in a clash that led to the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat in the South China Sea, sharpening tensions already dangerously high after China moved an oil rig into the disputed waters. Hanoi accused a Chinese vessel of ramming the wooden Vietnamese boat Monday then…
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If China refuses to face Vietnam at international court, then what?
Since May 1, China has unilaterally deployed its HD-981 rig and many vessels, including military ships, in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf. This action violates Vietnam’s sovereign rights and its jurisdiction over the EEZ of 200 nautical miles and continental shelf. More dangerously, China escalated tensions when its ships, under the support of aircraft, rammed vessels of…