ASEAN
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Carlisle: China’s Aggressive Stance on Islands Causes ‘Concern’
The Air Force’s top Pacific Commander said China’s behavior in the Pacific is both provocative and cooperative regarding its military posture and stance on disputed territories in the region. “I think the territorial disputes and the way they are being handled are things we have concern over. At the same time, they are engaging. There are other cases where they…
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A “Weak” America is Making Asia Uneasy
Chinese actions in maritime Asia are raising questions about American willingness and ability to act decisively in the region. That ambiguity is bad news for members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), traditionally dependent on the U.S. security umbrella and more recently enjoying rapid expansion of trade with China. Chinese perceptions of American weakness are fueling the aggressiveness…
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Asean-China looks for common grounds
Next Monday the senior officials from Asean and China will be meeting in Pattaya after they met last September at Suzhou, China where they kicked off official consultation on the process of formulating code of conducts (CoC) for the South China Sea. It was a turning point as China expressed the readiness to engage Asean on this sensitive issue. Last…
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Are U.S. Security Forces a Threat to Philippine Sovereignty? A Call for Principled Statesmanship
Philippine undersecretary of defense Lorenzo Batino said April 11 that negotiators had reached “consensus on key points” of a new deal to allow a greater U.S. rotational military presence in the Philippines. But this raises a dilemma for Philippine lawmakers attempting to define and craft “an independent and nationalistic” foreign policy. At what point should a country compromise its sovereignty…
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Hagel Confirms US Support for Japan, Asian Allies
HONG KONG — The head of the U.S. Defense Department says Washington plans to send two more missile defense warships to Japan to counter the threat posed by North Korea’s actions. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told a news conference in Tokyo Sunday after meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, that two AEGIS missile defense ships will be…
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‘Phl chose right course in sea row’
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines chose the right course, an international think tank said of the country’s filing a case before an arbitral court on its overlapping claim with China in the Spratlys. The Philippines may face repercussions for bringing its territorial dispute with China before an international court but complacency may be costlier, US-based think tank Center for Strategic…
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China’s position on the territorial disputes with the Philippines
ASEAN, Ayungin Shoal, BRP Sierra Madre, China, Code of Conduct, ICJ, itlos, Memorial, Philippines, South China Sea Dispute, UNCLOSOn March 30, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs stated that it submitted its Memorial to the Arbitral Tribunal that is hearing the case it brought against China under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in January 2013. A lot of media friends ask for comments on this issue. In order that China’s position is clearly…
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Jakarta rejects China’s ‘nine-dash line’
ASEAN, China, Code of Conduct, Indonesia, Jakarta, Militarization, Mischief Reef, Natuna Islands, Nine Dash Line, South China Sea Dispute, UNCLOSIn a significant policy shift, Indonesian officials on March 12 announced that China’s nine-dash line map outlining its claims in the South China Sea overlaps with Indonesia’s Riau province, which includes the Natuna Island chain. For over two decades, Indonesia has positioned itself as an independent mediator in the South China Sea disputes between its partners in the Association of…
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China to PH: ‘Friends avoid lawsuits’
MANILA, Philippines – China remains convinced that a bilateral negotiation, and not international arbitration, is the best way to settle its territorial dispute with a “good neighbor” and long-standing “friend” like the Philippines. “A resort to arbitration does not meet people’s expectations for friendship in both China and the Philippines,” said Zhang Hua, spokesperson of the Chinese embassy in Manila,…
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Is a Philippine-Vietnam Alliance in the Making?
Walden Bellow, a representative of Akbayan (Citizens’ Action Party) in the Philippine House of Representatives, recently wrote an opinion-editorial in Foreign Policy in Focus (March 18) entitled, “A Budding Alliance: Vietnam and the Philippines Confront China.” Bello argued that, “The Philippines and Vietnam are natural allies in their common struggle against China’s drive for hegemony in East Asia. Already partners…