News
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China to bring 4G+ telecom services on man-made islands in South China Sea
MANILA, Philippines — China’s navy and telecommunication corporations are reportedly working to improve communications system in Chinese-occupied features in the disputed South China Sea by bringing 4G+ services in the area. The Philippines claims parts of the South China Sea within its exclusive economic zone and calls it the West Philippine Sea. On Friday, state-run news agency Xinhua reported that…
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PH govt, being the steward of the national patrimony, needs to be transparent on Benham Rise
THE news that the Philippines has given its consent to China to conduct scientific research in Benham Rise, renamed Philippine Rise, has provoked much controversy. The Benham Rise, with a submarine area roughly the size of Greece, is believed to be rich in gas deposits. There is, therefore, great anxiety, in being informed about the measures that the Philippines is…
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South China Sea claimants urged to ‘set aside’ row for environment’s sake
MANILA – Sovereignty issues in the South China Sea should be set aside to protect the environment, as years of unregulated fishing and China’s recent island-building caused fish catch to drop, an analyst said Friday. Over 160 square kilometers of coral reefs were “severely damaged or destroyed” due to “giant clam harvesting, dredging, and artificial island building,” a 2017 report…
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Duterte’s push for joint exploration in the South China Sea
From being a frontrunner in pressing China on the South China Sea disputes, the Philippines under President Rodrigo Duterte is seeking closer relations with China. In his state of the nation address in July last year, Duterte announced that he wants to begin a joint exploration venture with China in the South China Sea, in the area that Philippine government…
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Wanted: A Strategy to Limit China’s Grand Plans for the South China Sea
The United States has significantly accelerated the pace of it freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) in the South China Sea. Last year it conducted four such operations in the span of five months. This contrasts with the four FONOPs conducted during President Barack Obama’s entire second term. On January 17, the USS Hopper, a U.S. Arleigh-Burke-class destroyer, conducted the first…
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Plenty of bumps on Xi’s New Silk Roads, on both land and sea
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative is an ambitious program to build infrastructure across 60-plus countries on four continents. There is an overland component that links China with Western Europe by rail. The sea component links coastal China with East Africa and Europe. This month, an additional proposal linked Europe and eastern Canada via three proposed Arctic routes.…
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Duterte’s push for joint exploration in the South China Sea
From being a frontrunner in pressing China on the South China Sea disputes, the Philippines under President Rodrigo Duterte is seeking closer relations with China. In his state of the nation address in July last year, Duterte announced that he wants to begin a joint exploration venture with China in the South China Sea, in the area that Philippine government…
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On cowardice and cop-out
Even without the July, 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which stated that China has no legal basis to claim “historic rights” over the Bajo de Masinloc, the world knew that China’s “ownership” of the shoal was a sham, a fishwives tale of the 13th century Chinese fishermen who supposedly laid first claim on it. The “carta hydrographica…
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Fallout from Philippines’ pivot to China
Manila recently allowed a Chinese ship to conduct maritime research at a resource-rich vast underwater plateau known as Benham Rise, east of the main island of Luzon, near US bases in Guam and Hawaii. For months, the Philippines has been drumming up a joint venture with China to explore for oil and gas in a contested area of the South…
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Disputing China’s Spurious Territorial Claims in the South China Sea
On January 22, Chinese government media angrily accused the U.S. of “wantonly provoking trouble” in the South China Sea. The alleged American provocation? On January 17, the U.S. Navy’s USS Hopper, a guided missile destroyer, passed within 12 miles of Scarborough Shoal — a sea feature within Filipino territory that China now calls Huangyan Island. Got that? Within Filipino territory,…
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Chinese navy preparing for island dispute: expert
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy is strengthening its combat capability by conducting drills in the South China Sea in an effort to deal with potential disputes and national reunification in the future, a military expert said on Wednesday, adding that other countries should familiarize themselves with the situation. Website navy.81.cn, affiliated to PLA Daily, reported six landing ships taking…
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China Wants Confrontation in the South China Sea
Last Wednesday, the USS Hopper, an Arleigh Burke–class missile destroyer, sailed within twelve nautical miles of Scarborough Shoal, a few rocks in the northern portion of the South China Sea. We would not have known about the sail-by if we were relying on the Pentagon. Beijing announced the event and then made threats. The Chinese, we have to conclude, are…