News
-
China and Philippines: The reasons why a battle for Zhongye (Pag-asa) Island seems unavoidable
Zhongye (Pag-asa) Island, the second largest in the South China Sea’s Spratly Islands, has an area of 0.33 square km, and is of great strategic significance for China if it wants to control a vast part of the South China Sea that it claims to be its territorial waters. As the Island is located roughly in the middle of the…
-
China’s air zone announcement was just the beginning
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, B-52 Bombers, China, East China Sea Dispute, Philippines, South China Sea Dispute, USAWHEN CHINA announced its decision to claim a wider air zone that encompassed the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Island territories, the East China Sea erupted into conflict reminiscent of the Cold War era. In response, the United States and Japan declared the zone illegitimate and flew military aircraft through it, while China deployed fighter jets to identify them. But this was not…
-
Will Beijing Declare a Special Air Defense Zone Over the South China Sea?
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, B-52 Bombers, China, East China Sea Dispute, Japan, Militarization, Nuclear Submarines, Philippines, South China Sea Dispute, USABeijing may replicate the controversial special air defense zone it unilaterally declared over the East China Sea in another disputed region — the vast South China Sea — in a bid to shore up its military strategy that could escalate tensions and intensify U.S.-China rivalry, experts say. The controversial East China Sea air defense identification zone (ADIZ), announced more than…
-
China’s geopolitical weight is emboldening its territorial creep
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, China, East China Sea, Japan, Philippines, Scarborough Shoal, South China Sea Dispute, Territorial CreepChina’s growing geopolitical heft is emboldening its territorial creep in Asia. After laying claim to 80 percent of the South China Sea, it has just established a so-called air defense identification zone in the East China Sea, raising the odds of armed conflict with Japan and threatening the principle of freedom of navigation of the seas and skies. Meanwhile, the…
-
Chinese Territorial Strife Hits Archaeology
Underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio’s team was exploring the wreckage of a 13th-century Chinese junk off the coast of the Philippines when it made an unwelcome discovery about China’s maritime muscle in the 21st century. As a twin-prop plane swooped overhead, a Chinese marine-surveillance vessel approached the team’s Philippines-registered ship and began broadcasting instructions in English over a loudspeaker. “They said…
-
With Air Defense Zone, China is Waging Lawfare
The tension surrounding the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) is being covered in the kind of exhaustive detail that is rarely given to Asia’s maritime disputes. Many reports have surfaced claiming that the move might have been a strategic blunder for China. Yet, I’ve yet to see any reports explaining in precise details what China was hoping…
-
China sends fighter jets to patrol new air defense zone
BEIJING — The Chinese air force sent its mainstay Su-30 and J-11 fighters and an early-warning aircraft to patrol its air defense identification zone on Thursday, an air force spokesman told China’s state-run Xinhua news agency. The spokesman said the air force “will make patrol flights within the zone standard practice,” but did not clarify whether Thursday’s patrol zone overlapped with…
-
Beijing’s grand vision of a blue-water Chinese lake
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, Air Sweeps, China, East China Sea, Japan, Militarization, Naval Patrols, USATOKYO — China’s assertive demarcation of the airspace over the East China Sea hints at an ambitious yet risky long-term strategy of maritime control. “I thought this would happen one day, but never that they would go ahead so soon,” said a Japanese national security source after China declared its new air defense identification zone last Saturday. Chinese national security advisers had mooted the…
-
Putin vows to boost Russian military supplies to Vietnam amid South China Sea dispute
ussian President Vladimir Putin has pledged to expand military supplies to Vietnam, a move that looks set to raise concerns from Beijing as tensions over the South China Sea linger. In the latest sign of deepening military ties between the former allies, Putin made the announcement yesterday during a one-day state visit to Vietnam. While still in a headlock with…
-
Why Is China Giving the Philippines the Cold Shoulder?
ASEAN, China, Haiyan, Philippines, Relief Goods, South China Sea Dispute, Super Typhoon Yolanda, UNCLOSIn the wake of the devastating Typhoon Haiyan, international aid is flowing to the Philippines. The United Nations released $25 million from an emergency fund and the United States pledged $20 million in immediate relief. But, for the moment at least, precious little assistance is coming from the region’s behemoth. The Chinese authorities announced a paltry $100,000 in humanitarian aid…
-
‘Yolanda’ kicks out Chinese from Ayungin Reef, Philippine Marines on grounded ship safe
Ayungin Shoal, China, Kalayaan Group of Islands, Philippines, South China Sea, Super Typhoon YolandaMANILA – Super typhoon Yolanda has sent home Chinese maritime and Navy vessels at the Ayungin Reef in Palawan, while the half a dozen Philippine Marines on board a rusting and grounded World War II-era ship are safe, a source told InterAksyon.com. This effectively ends the standoff between the two countries some 100 nautical miles from the island of Palawan.…
-
How China can cement its territorial claims in the South China Sea
China has painted itself into a diplomatic and legal corner regarding its claims in the South China Sea. Its infamous and ambiguous “historic” nine-dash line has been variously interpreted by rival claimants as a national boundary; a sovereignty claim to all water and land within it; and, more optimistically, as an indicator of a sovereignty claim only to the islands…