News
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Palace: Let China interpret US-PH talks
MANILA, Philippines – It will be up to China to interpret the ongoing talks on enhancing military cooperation between the Philippines and the United States, Malacanang said yesterday. “Let China interpret that… We don’t need to send a message. The medium is the message,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said when asked if the government was trying to send a message…
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Amid China’s assertiveness, Vietnam leader warns vs use of force in territorial rows
TOKYO – Vietnam’s president on Tuesday warned against the use of force in territorial disputes as his nation and its neighbours lock horns with an increasingly assertive China over competing claims in the South China Sea. President Truong Tan Sang made the comments in Japan’s parliament during a four-day visit. A joint press briefing with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is…
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Forget Oil and Gas, the South China Sea Just Got More Complicated
As former-best-friends-turned-sour during the Cold War, the Sino-Vietnamese relationship has managed to overcome a number of issues and has progressed to levels of cooperation unimaginable only 10 years ago. Vietnam’s civilian-led patrols, backed by marine police and a border force, will be deployed from 25 January within Vietnamese waters in the South China Sea. Photo: Reuters But conflicting territorial claims…
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Countering China in the South China Sea
On March 18, officials from China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet in Singapore to discuss steps towards an elusive code of conduct in the contentious South China Sea dispute. If the past is any indicator, China will ensure that such diplomacy will produce little significant progress even as it continues to coercively change realities on…
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Eyes on Crimea, China makes its move
While much of the world was busy watching Russia swallow Crimea, few realized that an also dangerous territorial tit-for-tat had begun to unfold earlier this month more than 5,000 miles away in the South China Sea. At Second Thomas Shoal, a handful of Philippine marines have long been stationed and re-provisioned on the rusting deck of the BRP Sierra Madre,…
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China warns Philippines on disputed shoal
BEIJING – China warned the Philippines on Monday to abandon a disputed shoal in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) after Manila said it planned to challenge a Chinese naval blockade of the area by sending supplies to its troops stationed there. Last week, a senior Philippines military official said his country would send civilian supply ships to its…
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China’s SCS claim threatens RI sovereignty
Has China abandoned its policy of resolving the contentious South China Sea (SCS) issue through peaceful means? China’s recent big brother behavior and unilateral military measures like naval blockades and xenophobic rhetoric have all given the impression that overconfident China is increasingly shedding its soft-power image in resolving both the East China Sea and SCS disputes. China — the world’s…
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Philippines offers US forces access to military bases
MANILA – The Philippines has agreed to allow the United States access to its military bases under a new security deal being negotiated by the two allies, amid mounting concern over China’s increasing assertiveness in the disputed waters of the South China Sea. The offer was made during a sixth round of talks held in Washington last week, Filipino officials…
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DFA belies alleged PH’s pull-out from Ayungin Shoal
The Department of Foreign Affairs today issued a statement to belie China’s allegation that the country has agreed to pull-out of the Ayungin Shoal. In a remote corner of the South China Sea, 105 nautical miles from the Philippines, lies a submerged reef that Filipinos call Ayungin. In most ways it resembles the hundreds of other reefs, islands, rock clusters…
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Vietnam to Boost Support for Fishermen Caught up in Territorial Dispute with China
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung is pledging to create more favorable working conditions for more than 1 million fishermen who he said play a part in protecting the country’s sovereignty in the disputed South China Sea. In a speech this week, Dung asked relevant ministries to put forward concrete credit policies such as easier access to loans for building…
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Indonesia’s Military Flexes Muscle as S. China Sea Dispute Looms
Jakarta. In a move that could have serious repercussions for the security situation in the South China Sea, Indonesian officials on Wednesday acknowledged that China was claiming part of Indonesia’s Riau Islands province as its own territory. The Indonesian Military’s (TNI) Air Commodore Fahru Zaini, who is a member of the defense strategy unit at the office of the coordinating…
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Manila air-drops supplies to troops on disputed South China Sea reef
Manila: The Philippines air-dropped food and water to soldiers posted on a grounded transport ship on a disputed South China Sea shoal, after China blocked two supply ships from reaching the troops, a senior navy official said on Wednesday. Chinese ships patrolling waters around Second Thomas Shoal, known in China as the Ren’ai reef, on Sunday ordered the Philippine ships…