West Philippine Sea
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Indonesia conducts major naval drills in South China Sea
The TNI-AL’s CN-235-220 maritime patrol aircraft while it was on a visit at the Singapore Airshow 2016. A similar aircraft has been deployed to the Natuna islands region for a naval drill in 2016. Source: IHS/Ridzwan Rahmat Key Points Indonesia has increased the complexity of an annual naval exercise and staging it near disputed waters Exercise is being conducted against…
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Beijing’s Claims of South China Sea Support May Not Hold Water
China says 60 countries back stance on international tribunal; Only 8 have publicly stated support BEIJING—The landlocked African kingdom of Lesotho doesn’t have an obvious stake in the South China Sea, but it is among some 60 countries that China says stand behind it as it faces potential censure by an international tribunal over its territorial claims there. http://www.wsj.com/articles/beijings-claims-of-south-china-sea-support-may-not-hold-water-1466138014
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HK legal organ queries PCA’s South China Sea arbitration
Daniel R. Fung, chairman of the Hong Kong-based Asia Pacific Institute of International Law (APIIL), told Xinhua on Thursday that such an arbitration involving sovereignty issues should not be handled by PCA under the framework of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). On June 6, 2016, the APIIL submitted an amicus curiae (friend of the…
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Ahead of ruling, China collects historical proof overseas that backs its claim in South China Sea
China has long argued that historical documents prove the legitimacy of its claim to the South China Sea, but mainland researchers have also been looking overseas for supporting evidence. Researchers from Yunnan University and Iran’s Tehran University have studied 50 Persian maps dating from the 10th to 17th centuries and translated the script into modern languages, including English and Chinese,…
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US-China Maritime Disputes: Too Close for Comfort
Two recent close encounters between US spy planes and Chinese jets spell trouble for relations between Washington and Beijing. The first, between a US EP-3 spy plane and two Chinese jets over the South China Sea (SCS) near China’s Hainan Island, was strikingly similar to the 2001 incident in the same area in which a Chinese jet and an EP-3…
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Election 2016: Federal Labor would green-light South China Sea military exercise: Conroy
The United States has recently angered China by sending military ships and aircraft into the region including flying two B-52 bombers over the disputed islands. Stephen Conroy says the regional security challenge posed by China building artificial islands in the South China Sea needs to be directly addressed. “We believe our Defence Force should be authorised to conduct freedom of…
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South China Sea: A Legal Analysis of China’s Maritime Claims
How China seeks to shape maritime law to legitimize its claims. A year and a half ago, the contested South China Sea (SCS) was awash in international intrigues and legal maneuverings. On December 7, 2014, two days after the U.S. State Department released Washington’s legal views on Beijing’s disputed nine-dash line (NDL) claim in the SCS, China’s Ministry of Foreign…
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Is there a way for Beijing to save face after the South China Sea arbitration ruling?
China and the Philippines, after the arbitration decision, could settle the issues by taking account of the decision without formally mentioning it. Illustration: Craig Stephens International tensions are rising rapidly as D-Day approaches in the Philippines arbitration case against China. Increasingly anxious, Beijing is resorting to a full-court press in the propaganda realm, seeking to justify its refusal to participate…
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China blamed for ASEAN U-turn on South China Sea
MANILA, Philippines – Chinese pressure was blamed Thursday for a stunning diplomatic U-turn by Southeast Asian Nations that saw them retract a statement sounding alarm over Beijing’s island building in the South China Sea. The chaotic events at the end of a meeting of foreign ministers from China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Tuesday have…
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Indonesia Moving Toward Tougher Stance On Contested South China Sea
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Indonesian President Joko Widodo called a strategically important meeting with his security and political affairs minister this week over how the normally neutral Asian archipelago should handle increasing foreign pressure on its maritime claims. The minister, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, learned from the Monday meeting that government leaders will “formulate an Indonesia stance…