News
-
Has China Bought Brunei’s South China Sea Silence?
An abundance of oil has supported the extravagant and famous lifestyles of Brunei’s royal family and their coterie of well connected elites for decades. But it now appears the tiny sultanate has fallen on hard times, a situation that has been setting off alarm bells not only among some within the country, but also in Southeast Asia and beyond. In…
-
China coercing neighbours to reorder Indo-Pacific region: Pentagon
WASHINGTON: China is coercing its neighbours to reorder the Indo-Pacific region, the Pentagon told Congress in its annual budget proposals for the fiscal 2019, beginning October 1 this year. Trump administration today released their proposal for the fiscal year 2019 budget. Fiscal years are different from calendar years. The budgetary proposal covers October 1, 2018, through September 30, 2019. “China…
-
British warship to sail through disputed South China Sea
SYDNEY, Australia – A British warship will sail from Australia through the disputed South China Sea next month to assert freedom of navigation rights, a senior official said Tuesday in a move likely to irk Beijing. China claims nearly all of the resource-rich waterway and has been turning reefs and islets into islands and installing military facilities such as runways…
-
South China Sea Photos Suggest a Military Building Spree by Beijing
China has spent years building military outposts on a group of contested islands in the South China Sea — a project that has left the country at odds with many of its neighbors and the United States. First, there was the dredging, in which ships sucked sediment from the seabed and pumped it atop formerly undeveloped reefs. Then came the…
-
China seeks to name sea features in Philippine Rise
MANILA, Philippines — Why is China interested in conducting research in the Philippine Rise, an area in the Western Pacific where it has no maritime territorial claim? One possible answer, according to official sources: Beijing is seeking naming rights for seven or eight submarine mountains or seamounts and ridges in Benham or Philippine Rise and the surrounding Philippine Sea. The…
-
Freedom of navigation in South China Sea
The United States Navy (USN) conducted a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in the South China Sea on Jan 17 and, as anticipated, it created a current of excitement among security analysts. The main bugbear being that the operations were conducted within the 12 nautical miles of Scarborough Shoal that China claims as part of her territorial seas. China’s Ministry…
-
Protect the ‘Philippine Rise’; Prevent the ‘Philippine fall’
By Fidel V. Ramos Former Philippine President “It would be ‘dumb’ of the Philippines to allow China to explore Philippine Rise despite Beijing’s disrespect for a UN-backed arbitral court ruling recognizing Manila’s sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea…..” — Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 15 January 2018) “Benham, or Philippine, Rise is part of…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…