News
-
Why China’s ‘Three Warfares’ Could Provide Beijing with Big Gains (Thanks to Donald Trump)
Under Xi Jinping, China has intensified its focus on “seizing discursive power” (话语权) and “propagating China’s voice” at the global level. Indeed, the recent One Belt, One Road summit in Beijing has highlighted China’s ambitions to exert its influence upon the international order—and adjust it to its own advantage. For China, this concept of discursive power is often considered a…
-
Analyst: US South China Sea operation a sign of support to Philippines
MANILA, Philippines — The move of the US Navy to sail near Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands shows Washington’s support for the Philippines’ claims over the South China Sea. US officials earlier confirmed that guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey sailed within six nautical miles of Mischief Reef, one of China’s artificial islands in the disputed waters. Beijing has protested US…
-
The real purpose of US Navy ‘freedom of navigation operations’ around disputed South China Sea islands ‘Fonops’ in South China Sea are Washington’s way of continuing to support the regional security architecture and the rules-based liberal international order
With days to go before Asian defence officials meet in Singapore for the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, the United States carried out its first South China Sea freedom of navigation operation (fonop) for the year. The guided missile destroyer USS Dewey sailed within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands. Not only was the operation the first for…
-
HOPE FOR CODE OF CONDUCT ON SOUTH CHINA SEA
Hope for Code of Conduct on South China Sea The legally binding document is expected to address reducing the risk of clashes in one of the world’s most strategic maritime territories, writes Rajaram Panda The oceanic space of the South China Sea (SCS) has emerged as a major flashpoint in the Asia Pacific region as there are several claimants to…
-
China and Asean agree to draft code of conduct in South China Sea
Beijing and its Southeast Asian neighbours have agreed to a framework for a code of conduct in the South China Sea, a move that could reduce the risk of clashes in one of the world’s busiest waterways. Along with the framework, rival claimants China and the Philippines will start talks today over their competing claims in the sea, according to…
-
USS Ronald Reagan now underway on patrol amid uncertainty in Asia
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan – The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan departed its Yokosuka homeport Tuesday for a scheduled patrol of the Asia-Pacific region, amid concerns about North Korea and questions about how the White House will address China’s claims to the South China Sea. The roughly 5,000 sailors assigned to the ship and its embarked air wing departed a…
-
Aid with no strings attached?
Last Friday the newly appointed secretary of foreign affairs, Alan Peter Cayetano, made this statement with regard to foreign aid: “We will not accept aid from any country if there are strings attached, if there are conditions, because we are an independent nation, and we have an independent foreign policy.” This statement echoes the Duterte administration’s recent announcement that it…
-
OPINION: Foreign secretary, envoy belie Duterte account of Xi’s alleged threat of war
Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said he has been in all the bilateral meetings between President Duterte and China’s President Xi Jinping and he has not witnessed any threat of war uttered by the Chinese President. Philippine Ambassador to China Chito Sta. Romana, who has worked and lived in China as a journalist before he was recruited to the foreign…
-
‘Philippines can bring China war threat before UN’
MANILA, Philippines – Supreme Court (SC) Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has advised the Duterte government to elevate to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Chinese President Xi Jinping’s threat of war against the Philippines should the latter insist on drilling for oil in the disputed South China Sea, or the West Philippine Sea. “The…
-
PH urged to take China war threat to UN
President Rodrigo Duterte should take China to the United Nations (UN) for threatening the Philippines with war if it drills for oil in an area in the West Philippine Sea that has already been declared within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said on Saturday. The world body “outlaws the use or threat of force”…
-
JUSTICE CARPIO: ‘PH can sue China over war threat’
MANILA can file another case against Beijing before a United Nations tribunal for threatening war against the Philippines over the dispute in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said on Saturday. In a statement, Carpio said the Philippine government can run to the UN tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of…
-
China deploys HQ-9 missiles in north of S. China Sea- Israel
WASHINGTON – China has deployed HQ-9 surface-to-air missiles on Hainan Island in the northern part of the South China Sea, an Israeli satellite imagery company has learned, citing analysis of recently captured images. Amid concern about Beijing’s militarization and island building in disputed areas of the South China Sea, the observation that “China is apparently beginning to build a no-fly…