South China Sea Dispute
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China hastening work on reclamation projects in disputed waters–DFA
Albert del Rosario, ASEAN, China, Fiery Cross Reef, itlos, Military Bases, Philippines, Reclamation, South China Sea Dispute, Spratlys, Subi Reef, UNCLOSMANILA, Philippines – China is working double time on their reclamation projects in the South China Sea in order to complete their expansion agenda before the arbitration case is concluded, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Friday. “DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario has mentioned that these activities are now being hastened in anticipation of […]
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Chinese naval push could affect global trade
Tensions in the South China Sea—scene of naval standoffs in the past year as China has pressed its smaller neighbors on the open sea—may seem far off to many Western investors, but any conflict in the region could affect the global economy. Coast guard vessels from China (rear) and Vietnam in a disputed part of […]
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What China wants
Analysis, China, Diplomatic Relations, Domestic Policy, Economics, Foreign Policy, History, Military Upgrade, Oil Rig, Philippines, South China Sea Dispute, USA, VietnamMATTHEW BOULTON, James Watt’s partner in the development of the steam engine and one of the 18th century’s greatest industrialists, was in no doubt about the importance of Britain’s first embassy to the court of the Chinese emperor. “I conceive”, he wrote to James Cobb, secretary of the East India Company, “the present occasion to […]
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Freedom of Navigation and China: What Should Europe Do?
Europe should take note of the challenge that China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi set the United States at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting earlier this month. In remarks to the press, Wang challenged Washington’s advocacy of high seas freedoms by arguing that the “current situation of the South China Sea is generally stable, and the […]
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Should Asia be Afraid? China’s Strategy in the South China Sea Emerges
China continues to play a long game in asserting its territorial claims and hegemonic ambitions in the South China Sea (SCS). After its confrontation with Vietnam over the Haiyang Shiyou 981 oil rig in May this year, Beijing has recently announced that it intends to build lighthouses on five islands in the SCS, two of […]
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Freedom of Navigation and China: What Should Europe Do?
Analysis, China, EEZ, Foreign Relations, Japan, Philippines, South China Sea Dispute, UNCLOS, USA, VietnamEurope should take note of the challenge that China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi set the United States at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting earlier this month. In remarks to the press, Wang challenged Washington’s advocacy of high seas freedoms by arguing that the “current situation of the South China Sea is generally stable, and the […]
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China’s Crafty South China Sea Gambit
In a recent piece for China US Focus, Zhai Kun, director of the Institute of World Political Studies at CICIR, described the South China Sea as “a chessboard of international politics.” Noting the sea’s fluctuating role in relations between China and its neighbours, Zhai then claimed that the current focus on the South China Sea […]
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Kerry: Law, Not Coercion, Key to Resolving Sea Disputes
STATE DEPARTMENT— Speaking in Hawaii after a week-long trip to Asia, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said resolving competing territorial claims in the South China Sea is about respecting international law, not rival claimants trying to intimidate each other. Secretary Kerry said disputed mineral and fishing rights in the South China Sea underlie more […]
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Hard-headed realism needed in the South China Sea
Hopes of resolving the South China Sea’s bitter territorial disputes have once again proven illusory. Meeting in Myanmar over the week-end, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) shied away from backing the Filipino proposal for a freeze on destabilising unilateral challenges to the territorial status quo. Although this is typical of ASEAN’s limp diplomacy, […]