News
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The British Are Coming… To the South China Sea
Plus, Vietnam gets to reclaiming land in the Spratly Islands and Taiwan celebrates 70 years of Taiping Island. A few South China Sea stories that you may have missed over the past week: The British are coming. The United Kingdom is set to grow more involved in the South China Sea. Speaking last week in Washington D.C., the U.K. ambassador…
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China may have been testing Trump with drone seizure
China’s recent seizure of a U.S Navy underwater drone may have been an early political test for U.S. president-elect Donald Trump. On Saturday, China’s Defense Ministry released a statement announcing that its military had come across an unmanned American device in the South China Sea on Dec. 15 and said it would transfer the drone to the U.S. The move…
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THE PRC’S NEW GARRISONS IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA: A U.S. PERSPECTIVE
Some international observers minimize the importance of military facilities and operational capabilities on the People’s Republic of China’s various claimed features, rocks, and islands in the South China Sea. They should reconsider. Each location in isolation is not that potent. However, in the aggregate, this island base network poses a more resilient capability (geographically dispersed cluster bases) which, at the…
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Islands of Mass Destruction How China killed essential reefs and built military bases on top.
On a map of the world, the South China Sea appears as a scrap of blue amid the tangle of islands and peninsulas that make up Southeast Asia between the Indian and Pacific oceans. Its 1.4 million-square-mile expanse, so modest next to its aquatic neighbors, is nonetheless economically vital to the countries that border it and to the rest of…
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Malaysia calls for Asean support against Beijing over South China Sea
Malaysia’s Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein yesterday urged the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) to band together on the South China Sea issue so as to prevent major powers from dictating regional politics. “Alone, we cannot face them, but as a coalition of 10 countries, I am confident that even China cannot take us lightly or ignore our stand,” said…
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Undersea arms race: Seizure of U.S. drone shines spotlight on China’s nuclear submarine strategy
With its controversial seizure and return of a U.S. underwater drone, Beijing may have inadvertently thrust into the spotlight one of the main motivations behind its ramped-up moves in the South China Sea: the quest to create a safe-haven for its sea-based nuclear deterrent. Submarines, in particular ballistic missile subs, have long figured prominently in China’s desire to match the…
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China may be building ‘triad’ in South China Sea: analyst
MANILA – China may be trying to establish a strategic triad in the South China Sea to effectively take control of the entirety of the disputed waters, an analyst warned Wednesday. Former senior consultant at the National Security Council and former Magdalo party-list representative Francisco Ashley Acedillo noted that many defense analyst and experts have pointed to the possibility of…
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Beijing Is Ready To Go Eyeball to Eyeball With Trump
The U.S. president-elect took the first steps up the ladder of escalation, but China’s seizure of a naval drone shows it’s glad to follow. Beijing Is Ready To Go Eyeball to Eyeball With Trump Spring has come early to the South China Sea. Many analysts had assumed that China would do something to test the newly elected president once he…
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Guns of the South China Sea
In the White House Rose Garden on Sept. 25, 2015, President Xi Jinping stood with President Barack Obama and pledged that “China does not intend to pursue militarization” on outcroppings in the disputed waters of the South China Sea. Other top Chinese officials echoed this promise over the past year, even as airstrips were paved and military exercises carried out…
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Superpowers will only respect united Asean stand on South China Sea: Malay defence minister
Malaysia Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Asean should be united to handle South China Sea disputes. The superpower and China would respect ASEAN’s voice and stand. Instead, the fate and position of ASEAN countries would be determined by the world’s superpowers. He is of the view that ASEAN countries should have a united stand on South China Sea. Malaysia has…
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Scarborough Shoal a looming flashpoint in South China Sea
SCARBOROUGH SHOAL, South China Sea–In the predawn darkness, four lights flicker on the horizon. “Four Chinese ships,” says one of the Filipino fishermen ominously. We are 200 kilometers or so west of Infanta, a fishing village in the northern Philippines, from which we departed 19 hours earlier, and close to disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. As the…
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The challenge of winning over China
A basic fact oft overlooked is that international law operates differently from domestic law. “Sovereignty” plays a huge part in this. In relation to territorial claims, resolution by treaty or customary law, as well as third-party institutions, come in terms of other States’ recognition but not actual conferment of ownership. Effectively, the States claimants do that among themselves. Put another…