China
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Philippines Takes China’s Sea Claims to Court
Paul Reichler, a Washington-based lawyer, has spent much of his career representing small countries against big ones: Nicaragua versus the U.S.; Georgia versus Russia; Mauritius versus the U.K., Bangladesh versus India. His first big victory made headlines in the 1980s when the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that U.S. support for Contra […]
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American Paralysis and Troubles in the South China Sea: A Primer on the Philippines-China Arbitration
In response to the government shutdown at home, President Obama decided last week to cancel his planned participation in a series of Asian and Pacific summits. Unsurprisingly, the decision has provoked considerable consternation abroad as the United States’ allies fret about American dependability, particularly in the shadow of a rising and increasingly assertive China. Perhaps the […]
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China’s territorial claims in West Philippine Sea mere claims, not rights—DFA exec
ASEAN, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, South China Sea Dispute, Thailand, UNCLOS, VietnamMANILA, Philippines – China’s territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) does not give it the right to the hotly contested territory because they are “just mere claims” and do not adhere to international laws. “There is a fundamental difference between entitlements and claims under international law,” Assistant Secretary Henry Bensurto Jr. […]
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China must ‘play by the rules’, Philippines must arm, say US experts
China has to learn to “play by the rules” and the Philippines must sharply boost its defences to keep South China Sea territorial spats from escalating, two former US officials said on Friday. The Philippines has consistently accused China of aggressively pressing its claim to most of the South China Sea, even up to the […]
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The South China Sea and the Lessons of History
In 1980, Indonesia and Malaysia were prepared to sell off both Thailand’s interest as a front line state and the related concerns of Singapore and the Philippines. Indonesia and Malaysia’s interests were more abstract. Their priority was to assure the long-term preservation and expansion of ASEAN and to keep outside powers from interfering. Addressing their […]
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Speech: US, China and ASEAN: The Evolving Realities in the West Philippine Sea
ASEAN, China, itlos, Militarization, Philippines, Rafael M. Alunan III, South China Sea Dispute, UNCLOSRafael M. Alunan III Asian Institute of Management October, 4, 2013 Former President FVR; former Prime Minister Cesar Virata; distinguished speakers (who will be properly introduced later); members of the Cabinet and sub-Cabinet, past and present; the national security sector; diplomatic corps; members of academe and the business community: Good morning! This is the […]
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Philippines South China Sea legal case against China gathers pace
ASEAN, Brunei, China, Code of Conduct, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nine Dash Line, Philippines, Russia, South China Sea Dispute, South Korea, UNCLOS, USA, Vietnam(Reuters) – The Philippines’ legal challenge against China’s claims in the South China Sea is gathering pace, emerging as a “proxy battle” over Beijing’s territorial reach. Manila has assembled a crack international legal team to fight its unprecedented arbitration case under the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea – ignoring growing pressure […]
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A Code of Conduct for the South China Sea?
A series of high-level ASEAN meetings culminated in Suzhou, China on September 15, when senior officials from the forum for the first time met to formally discuss the possibility of a code of conduct (COC) in the South China Sea. According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the meeting ended positively, with an agreement […]
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America’s Inadequate ASEAN Approach
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel toured Southeast Asia several weeks ago. In Brunei, he met with the ten defense ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their seven counterparts from Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia and South Korea. En route and afterwards, he stopped in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. With […]
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The high costs of neglect and freedom
For today, I will cite and abridge the most important passages of Justice Antonio T. Carpio’s treatise — “The Rule of Law in the West Philippine Sea (WPS)” — for the reader to get a clear picture of where we stand legally versus China’s spurious claims. “In 1609, Hugo Grotius argued in his classic Mare […]