China
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Imagery shows heliport on China’s Nanji Islands
Airstrips, Artificial Islands, China, East China Sea, Japan, Philippines, Reclamation, South China Sea Dispute, Unsinkable Aircraft CarrierSatellite imagery analysis by IHS Jane’s has confirmed that China is building a military base on islands 300 km away from the dispute Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. The imagery, captured on 13 October 2014 by Airbus Defence and Space’s Pleaides satellite, shows a heliport with 10 landing pads in the centre of Nanji Island, one of a […]
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South China Sea in 2015: Fears of war
Accidental War, China, Diplomatic Affairs, Oil Rig, Paracels, South China Sea Dispute, Spratlys, Vietam, WarIs war over the festering South China Sea (SCS) maritime dispute between China and the Southeast Asian claimants of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam inevitable in 2015? China’s rising assertiveness, the firmness of claimants like the Philippines and Vietnam and the big powers’ interest in the region, have led to fears that tensions […]
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PHL mending ties with China but won’t drop arbitration case
The Philippines is taking steps to mend its relations with China, but emphasized that it will not drop its arbitration case against Beijing, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said on Thursday. Relations between the two Asian neighbors plunged to its lowest when the Philippines sought arbitration in January 2013 to try to declare as illegal […]
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Asean should resolve problem of overlapping claims in the South China Sea
Manila: All ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and China must work together to reduce tension due to the overlapping claims in the South China Sea, an American official said, adding the US and all other countries in the world want to remain as neutral referees who aim to end tension […]
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East Sea: Are artificial islands more dangerous than oil rigs?
Airstrips, Artificial Islands, ASEAN, China, Code of Conduct, Oil Rigs, Philippines, Reclamation, South China Sea Disute, Unsinkable Aircraft CarrierChina’s East Sea policy has a clear delineation between short term and long term. The strategy to maintain a continuous presence in the undisputed waters to gradually turn them into disputed areas has been resolutely pursued by Beijing. The 981 oil rig incident is a typical example. China used this oil rig as a “mobile […]
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Japan Record Defense Budget Aims At Curbing China Threat
Military Spending: In the face of an expansionist China seeking to dominate the East and South China Seas, Tokyo has set its largest defense budget ever to help defend islands that it rightfully considers Japanese territory. As its military, economy and ambitions grow, so too does China’s assertiveness about control of the Yellow Sea, the […]
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Another Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier
Airstrips, Artificial Islands, China, Philippines, Reclamation, South China Sea Dispute, Unsinkable Aircraft CarrierAs part of a broader project of land reclamation, beginning in November China started efforts to develop Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands. As of late November the reef had been built up to 3,000 meters long and between two and three hundred wide. This makes it large enough, in the assessment of analysts […]
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Power trip: might China’s struggles with its neighbours bring war to Asia?
From the air, the Spratly Islands, a cluster of miniature rocks and sandbars 425,000 kilometres square in the middle of the South China Sea, are almost imperceptible. Even up close, the Spratlys do not look like much – a few islands have tiny rocky beaches or occasional makeshift buildings. A tiny contingent of Filipino marines […]
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South China Sea: Jakobson and Glaser are both right
There has recently been a touch of disagreement on this site between Linda Jakobson of the Lowy Institute and Bonnie Glaser of CSIS about the motivations for China’s actions in the South China Sea. In short, Jakobson argues that China’s decision-making can be explained by bureaucratic competition between China’s various maritime agencies, whereas Glaser says […]