West Philippine Sea
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South China Sea Homework for Taiwan’s President-Elect
Tsai will need to have a strategy for handling Taiwan’s sovereignty claims in the South China Sea. Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou and the president-elect, Tsai Ing-wen, held a high-profile meeting on March 30. As expected, Ma proactively exchanged opinions with Tsai on protecting Taiwanese sovereignty on the South China Sea; Tsai, meanwhile, emphasized that her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has…
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Challenge China ‘expansionism’ over disputed islands, Duterte told
The administration of presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte must continue to challenge the “expansionism” of China over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), a think tank has said. The ADR Institute for International Studies (ADRi) said the pending arbitration case on China’s claims over our disputed islands should be “a major policy decision that the next President must address.” Read…
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FROM FRONTIER TO FRONTLINE: TANMEN MARITIME MILITIA’S LEADING ROLE
Our series on the leading maritime militias of Hainan Province continues with this second installment in a two-part in-depth examination of the maritime militia of Tanmen Township. Since its founding in 1985, this force has transformed from an entrepreneurial fishing collective on China’s marine frontier to a reliable frontline unit in increasingly vigorous sovereignty promotion. In part one we discussed…
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Chinese embassy in U.S. refutes Washington Post editorial on South China Sea
WASHINGTON, May 16 (Xinhua) — The Chinese Embassy in the United States on Monday refuted an editorial by The Washington Post on the South China Sea dispute, denying false accusations and clarifying historical facts and the Chinese stance. In a letter called “Provocations in the South China Sea” to the Post, Zhu Haiquan, spokesman for the Chinese embassy, wrote that…
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UN arbitration of South China Sea spat between Philippines and China: A roundup
A United Nations arbitration court is expected to issue a ruling in the coming weeks on a long-standing maritime dispute between China and the Philippines. Manila had initiated the proceedings in January 2013, arguing that Beijing’s claims over much of the South China Sea violated UN conventions. The spat has become a semi-crisis in relations between China and the United…
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Annual South China Sea fishing ban begins
Some 8,000 fishing boats returned to ports on Monday as the 18th annual fishing ban began in the South China Sea. From May 16 to August 1, no fishing is allowed in parts of the sea under China’s jurisdiction except by single-layer gill nets or other approved methods, including conventional angling, Xinhua news agency reported. http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/annual-south-china-sea-fishing-ban-begins-116051600332_1.html
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Japan’s important sideshow to arbitration decision in the South China Sea
While tensions continue to rise in the South China Sea and the disputing governments nervously await a decision in the Philippines’ arbitration case against China, an important sideshow has arisen between Japan and Taiwan in the central Philippine Sea. On 24 April Japan’s Coast Guard arrested a Taiwanese fishing vessel and its crew for fishing in waters that Japan claims…
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Duterte stands firm on South China Sea claims
The Philippines will not back down from its claim in the South China Sea, but is open to negotiations with China, the country’s incoming president said yesterday. “They are there illegally, whether they want to believe it or not,” Rodrigo Duterte told reporters before meeting Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua. The conflict centres on the Spratly Islands, a far-flung set of…
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This Critical American Ally Is Struggling with China’s South China Sea Moves
This week the Pentagon ordered the USS William P. Lawrence, a guided-missile destroyer, to sail within 12 nautical miles of the land feature China has constructed on Fiery Cross Reef in the South China Sea. It’s the third time since October the US Navy has penetrated the zone, and it reaffirms Washington’s insistence that Beijing has no territorial claims to…
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Beijing is setting the stage for war in the South China Sea
All any nation needs to go to war is a good provocation, and China is no exception. With its sweeping territorial claims, island-building, militarization, patriotic fervor, and prickly rhetoric, Beijing is setting itself up to be repeatedly provoked in the South China Sea. It might even be counting on it. UNCLOS territorial jurisdictions.(Wikipedia) Consider the nation’s manmade, militarized island at…