China
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China eavesdropping on PH maritime activities?
MANILA – China has not only deployed and maintained the presence of its surveillance and navy ships in the West Philippine Sea, but has positioned advanced communications equipment as well to eavesdrop on all naval and maritime activities of the Philippine military based in Palawan. “The Chinese, using their advanced communication equipment, are now capable […]
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ANALYSIS | What does it mean for the region? World cuts military spending but not Asia
WASHINGTON DC — For the second year in a row, the world is spending a little less on the military. Asia, however, has failed to get the memo. The region is spending more at a time when many others are spending less. Last year, Asia saw a 3.6 percent increase in military spending, according to […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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Is Indonesia shifting its South China Sea policy?
A Jakarta think-tank intellectual was once asked whether Beijing listens when Jakarta speaks. He responded emphatically: ‘Oh yes! The problem is we don’t say enough’. In the post-authoritarian era, Indonesian officials, like many of their Southeast Asian counterparts, have tended to self-censor when it comes to China, avoiding public criticism while benefiting from considerable Chinese […]
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China’s President Xi urges greater military use of space
(Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the air force to adopt an integrated air and space defence capability, in what state media on Tuesday called a response to the increasing military use of space by the United States and others. While Beijing insists its space programme is for peaceful purposes, a Pentagon report last […]
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Is China Ready to Repair Ties With Japan?
Over at the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog, M. Taylor Fravel and Alastair Iain Johnston performed a data analysis on the frequency of Chinese coast guard patrols near the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. They found that since October 2013 there has been a remarkable drop in the frequency of Chinese patrols in the Senkaku/Diaoyu territorial waters, […]
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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 […]
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Comment: Why Beijing should let international law reign in the South China Sea
The perilous churn in the South China Sea, dubbed “Asia’s Cauldron” by one leading strategic analyst, stems from the overlapping claims of six states – Brunei, China, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam – over a body of water vital to global trade, which contains energy resources and abundant fish stock in its vast depths. Negotiations […]