News
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Obama seeks to avoid “clash of civilisations” between China and the West
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, Brunei, China, Diplomatic Relations, Malaysia, Militarization, Philippines, South China Sea Dispute, USA, VietnamOn the next day after President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union (SotU) 2014, which did not mention anything about the tension in East Asia, not even the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Tokyo-based The Diplomat published an article to ask whether Obama “has abandoned the Pivot to Asia”: “… he couldn’t make room for […]
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To Counter Beijing, Japan Moves Closer to Taiwan
A report from Kyodo News International says that lawmakers from Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are trying to create a Japanese version of the Taiwan Relations Act, the U.S. law that governs Washington’s relations with Taipei. Japan does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but the proposed law would seek to formalize the current unofficial […]
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China’s “Nine-Dash Line” is Dangerous
As noted last week, the U.S. has lodged its objection to China’s “nine-dash-line” claim to the South China Sea. It is right to do so for two reasons. First, in contrast to what China claims, the U.S. clearly stating its position on the conflict will reduce the chance that the U.S. and China will come […]
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China claims Japan is secretly developing nuclear weapons
Asia Weekly, a Hong Kong-based news outlet (Chinese controlled), is reporting that Japan is secretly developing a nuclear weapons program in response to increasing hostilities with China over the East China Sea dispute. According to the report, paraphrased by the Want China Times, “With the capability to build at least 2,000 nuclear warheads, Japan has recently […]
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China’s Military Trains for War Against Japan
A senior U.S. military officer has accused China’s People Liberation Army of training for a “short sharp war” against Japan in the East China Sea aimed at seizing the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands. According to the U.S. Naval Institute, Captain James Fanell, Director, Intelligence and Information Operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said that the massive Mission […]
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Troubled Waters: Indonesia’s Growing Maritime Disputes
Indonesia has had a rocky couple of weeks in its relations with its neighbors. While Ted Piccone and Bimo Yusman wrote last week about Indonesia’s decade of qualified diplomatic successes, in a series of separate and mostly unrelated naval developments the archipelagic nation has in turn aggrieved, or been aggrieved by, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, […]
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China urges int’l alert for Japanese comments
BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) — China on Wednesday urged the international community to be on alert for any comments which attempt to vindicate Japan’s invasion history and challenge post-war world order. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying’s comments came in response to a question regarding recent Japanese comments. Chairman of Japan’s public broadcaster NHK Katsuto […]
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Tensions Set To Rise In The South China Sea
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, China, Diplomatic Relations, Malaysia, Militarization, Naval Exercises, Naval Stockpiling, Office of Naval Intelligence, Paracel Islands, South China Sea Dispute, USAOver the last month and a half, seven significant developments indicate that tensions in the South China Sea are set to rise in both the short and long term. The five short-term trends include: Philippine defiance of China’s fishing ban; continued inaction by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); the Chinese navy’s repeated assertions […]
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China: No plans for SEA air zone
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, China, Japan, Philippines, South China Sea Dispute, Spratlys, TaiwanTAIPEI – China has no plans of establishing an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over the South China Sea, a ranking Taiwanese official said Monday, citing an assurance from Beijing. Chu-Chia Lin, deputy minister of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), told an international group of reporters here that China’s assurance came after Taipei asked Beijing […]
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REMEMBER 1979 | Vietnamese, Filipinos issue pointed reminder to China of perils of war
MANILA – Marking the 35th anniversary of the short but bloody China-Vietnam border war, Vietnamese living in the Philippines linked arms Monday with Filipino activists in reminding Beijing to stop using force to assert its will on its neighbors in pushing its territorial claims. In a mass action outside the Chinese consulate in Makati City, […]
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China continues Diaoyu Islands patrol
BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) — Three China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels are patrolling in the waters surrounding the Diaoyu Islands , the State Oceanic Administration said on Monday. The vessels are CCG 2151, 2113 and 2102. Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-02/17/c_133121584.htm
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Stand With Our Ally in Tokyo
For nearly seven decades, the U.S. alliance with Japan has been the cornerstone of the American-led security order in East Asia. Together, our two countries have helped to usher in an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity in a region formerly identified with persistent conflict and endemic poverty. Working together through the long years of […]