Philippines
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China challenging the US-led status quo in Asia: commentary
By increasing the country’s military budget every year, China’s government is moving closer to challenging the US-led strategic status quo in the Asia-Pacific since 1945, writes Benjamin Herscovitch, a researcher from the Centre for Independent Studies, an Australian libertarian think tank based in St Leonards, in a commentary written for the Business Spectator on March […]
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Japan’s role in South China Sea getting bigger
The Japanese government is now expanding its role in world stage as it forge a stronger bilateral defense cooperation and exchanges with Philippine though a established Strategic Partnership. Japan is also set to supply Philippines and Vietnam with patrol boats. Last January 29, Philippines’ and Japan’s defense secretaries signed “Memorandum on Defense Cooperation and Exchanges […]
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South China Sea Dispute Heats Up
China’s recent construction on disputed atolls in the South China Sea has accelerated the stop-start cycle of dispute there. This series of surveillance photographs from the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative gives some idea of the expanding scope of the effort. Only last July the decision of the Chinese authorities to withdraw the HYSY-981 oil rig a month early from Vietnamese-claimed waters diffused ongoing physical […]
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PH losing about 60 hectares to China’s land grabbing
China’s land reclamation in four of the Philippine-claimed atolls and reefs in the West Philippine Sea area of the South China Sea, estimated to have reached more than 60 hectares, may have already changed the physical features of these disputed areas, which one lawmaker warned could indicate that the Philippines was starting to lose its […]
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Beijing’s land reclamation project worrisome; India, Washington should be watchful
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, Artificial Islands, China, East China Sea, India, Philippines, Reclamation, South China Sea Dispute, USADuring a visit to New Delhi earlier this month, Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, exhorted India to increase its presence in the South China Sea where China is literally creating new geography by enlarging reefs into artificial islands. He called China’s massive land reclamation “provocative” because it effectively changes “facts on […]
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PHL calls on int’l community to press to stop reclamation in South China Sea
The Philippines has called on the international community to press for a stop to massive reclamation activities in the South China Sea that could increase tension in the disputed area. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Undersecretary Evan Garcia said at the 17th ASEAN-India Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) held in New Delhi on March […]
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Japan flexing muscles in South China Sea disputes
China, Foreign Relations, Japan, Militarization, Military Conflict, Mutual Defense, Philippines, South China Sea Dispute, USA, VietnamJapan used to be aloof from the three-way chess game of conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea. Tokyo was pre-occupied with its own territorial dispute with China over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Daioyu in China. However, quietly encouraged by […]
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Philippines uncovers new Chinese construction in Spratlys
Artificial Islands, China, Fiery Cross Reef, Philippines, Reclamation, South China Sea Dispute, SpratlysMANILA — China is ramping up land reclamation and construction on the disputed Spratly Islands, aerial photographs by the Philippine military show, fueling concerns in Manila that the Asian giant soon may militarize in the South China Sea. The photos from January show several large facilities, such as a six-story building, being constructed on the […]
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China’s latest expansion to deny Philippines’ access to Ayungin
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, Artificial Islands, Ayungin Shoal, China, Militarization, Philippines, Reclamation, South China Sea Dispute, SpratlysMANILA, Philippines — China has created new artificial islets in two more reefs in the disputed South China Sea, which the Philippine military fears is meant to choke off its access to Ayungin shoal, where a crumbling Philippine Navy ship is beached. In an interview, former Air Force officer Rep. Francisco Acedillo, now partylist representative […]
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PLA admiral calls for radar stations in South China Sea
Artificial Islands, China, Philippines, Radar Stations, Reclamation, South China Sea Dispute, SpratlysRadar stations and lisening posts should be built on the islands China controls in the disputed South China Sea, Rear Admiral Yin Zhuo of the PLA Navy and a member of the national committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference told the official China News Service on Mar. 9. A year after the disappearance […]