China
-
Doomsday: Preparing for China’s Collapse
A couple of weeks ago, AEI scholar Michael Auslin published a column for the Wall Street Journal about a quiet dinner in Washington where a senior China scholar declared the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had reached the final stage before collapse. The political collapse of the world’s second-largest economy and a nuclear power is no small thing. What should Washington…
-
China’s Menacing Sandcastles in the South China Sea
Analysis, Artificial Islands, China, Defense, Militarization, Philippines, Reclamation, South China Sea Dispute, Spratlys, SustainabilityChina didn’t open “Pandora’s Sandbox.” It isn’t the first claimant to transform reefs by padding them with sand. But China’s superior economic and military capacity enables it to outpace other claimants. It is rapidly building the greatest “sandcastles,” which support multiple military and paramilitary functions. Beijing views Spratly and Paracel Islands augmentation as justified in “Chinese blue territory.” “China is…
-
China defends its South China Sea activities as restrained
BEIJING (AP) — China defended its activities in the South China Sea as restrained and responsible Friday after the U.S. intelligence chief called its expansion of outposts in the region an “aggressive” effort to assert sovereignty. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the country’s activities on shoals and in surrounding waters it claims are “reasonable, legitimate and legal” and…
-
Japan’s defense capability should not be underestimated: expert
Japanese military expert Kazuhiko Inoue said that Japan’s self defense force is capable of taking on China’s People’s Liberation Army even without the assistance of the United States, Tokyo’s Sapio Magazine reports. Inoue said that the ability of the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force to resist a potential PLA invasion should not be underestimated. He also questioned whether China’s warships,…
-
Countering China’s Maritime Coercion
Is China-U.S. competition for primacy in Asia this century’s greatest threat to peace? Some analysts think so. But in leaping from Sino-American competition to potential world war, they miss the obvious: Chinese leaders probe, seize opportunities, and challenge the international system with creeping assertions of sovereignty in the East and South China Seas. Yet they have no intention of sparking…
-
Aquino, Hollande renew call for maritime stability amid China aggression
China, Fishing Rights, France, Hollande, Philippines, Scarorough Shoal, South China Sea Dispute, UNCLOSMANILA, Philippines – Amid China’s continuing maritime aggression, President Benigno Aquino III and visiting French President Francois Hollande on Thursday renewed their call for peace in Southeast Asia. “We reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability in Southeast Asia and promoting maritime security, freedom of navigation and the peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international law, including UNCLOS,”…
-
China Rebuffs U.S. Request to Halt S. China Sea Island Work
China rejected an appeal from the Obama administration earlier this month to halt “destabilizing” construction on disputed islets in the South China Sea, according to U.S. officials. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel urged Chinese officials to halt rapidly expanding island construction over the past several years in the disputed Spratly Islands during a visit to Beijing. According to officials…
-
U.S. flies surveillance plane over South China Sea
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, Artificial Islands, China, Diaoyu, Japan, Reclamation, Senkaku, South China Sea Dispute, Spratlys, Surveiilance, USAWorld Bulletin / News Desk The United States has begun flying its most advanced surveillance aircraft, the P-8A Poseidon, out of the Philippines for patrols over the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy said on Thursday, acknowledging the flights for the first time. The United States, the Philippines’ oldest and closest ally, has promised to share “real time” information on…
-
Such quantities of sand
Artificial Islands, China, Environment, Indonesia, Malaysia, Reclamation, Sand, Singapore, South China Sea DisputeEVEN on a quiet Sunday morning, a steady stream of lorries trundles along the broad, pristine and otherwise deserted streets of Punggol Timur, an island of reclaimed land in the north-east of Singapore. They empty their loads into neat rows of white, yellow and grey mounds where the country stockpiles a vital raw material: sand. Building industries around the world…
-
China’s nine-dash line still infringes international law
Suggestions that China could claim historic fishing rights within the nine-dash line misinterpret international law. While Sourabh Gupta’s arguments, outlined in a recent Forum article, relating to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Articles 62 and 123 have been disputed elsewhere, we argue that his argument regarding Article 56 is also incorrect. The exclusive economic zone…