News
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Where Did All China’s Asian Friends Go?
China, Diaoyu, Foreign Relations, Japan, Makaysia, Paracels, Philippines, Senkaku, South China Sea Dispute, South Korea, Spratlys, USAUntil recently, Japan was a country where national law forbade it from using war as a way to settle international disputes. The Philippines was on the U.S. piracy list. Indonesia was a neutral country. And no U.S. president had visited Malaysia in 48 years. All of this has now changed, as President Barack Obama wrapped […]
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5 Chinese vessels deployed near shoal
UERTO PRINCESA, Palawan, Philippines – China has deployed five vessels – a survey ship, a frigate and three surveillance vessels – close to Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea. A Philippine Air Force (PAF) Nomad plane saw the Chinese deployment while delivering provisions to the Marine troops on the BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin […]
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EU Firms Help Power China’s Military Rise
BEIJING — As China boosts its military spending, rattling neighbors over territorial disputes at sea, an AFP investigation shows that European countries have approved billions in transfers of weapons and military-ready technology to the Asian giant. China’s air force relies on French-designed helicopters, while submarines and frigates involved in Beijing’s physical assertion of its claim […]
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China didn’t know where the Spratlys were
In 1933, the French flexed their colonial muscles and annexed nine of the Spratly Islands. When the news spread, the fledgling and troubled Chinese republic faced a basic problem: It didn’t know where the Spratlys were. A year earlier, the French had staked their claim to the Paracel Islands as part of their colony in […]
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Why Aquino calls disputed areas ‘rocks,’ not islands
MANILA – President Benigno Aquino summarized the Philippines’ case against China when he called some of the disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea as mere “rocks” and not islands. Aquino, during his press briefing at the Palace on Monday with his US counterpart, Barack Obama, described the disputed areas as a “few rocks that […]
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Philippines-China ties: What went wrong?
Ayungin Shoal, China, Diplomatic Relations, EDCA, Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, Foreign Policy, Memorial, Panatag Shoal, Philippines, South China Sea Dispute“IS this how the Philippines should deal with its powerhouse neighbor?” Former President Fidel V. Ramos raised this question in 2011 following conflicting reports on the dates of President Benigno S. Aquino’s state visit to China. But back then, relations between the Philippines and China were still in good shape. Hu Jintao was then the […]