South China Sea Dispute
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Innocent passage: Did the US just fumble its South China Sea strategy?
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, Artificial Islands, China, Militarization, Military Conflict, Philippines, Reclamation, Regular Patrols, South China Sea Dispute, Spratlys, USAThe difference between freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) and warships transiting under ‘innocent passage’ sounds arcane and legalistic. But this wonkish distinction is now central to understanding the nature of the US Navy’s activities in the South China Sea last week and going forward — with a critical bearing on how they are perceived in […]
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Some South China Sea fish ‘close to extinction’
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, Artificial Islands, China, Militarization, Military Conflict, Philippines, Reclamation, Regular Patrols, South China Sea Dispute, Spratlys, USALack of cooperation between nations which have competing claims to the sea is also contributing to the depletion, they said. A number of countries claim the waters, including their reefs and rocky outcrops. A study shows the number of some species at about five percent of 1950s levels. Several of them, such as coral groupers […]
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U.S., Japan push for inclusion of South China Sea in defense forum statement
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, Artificial Islands, China, Militarization, Military Conflict, Philippines, Reclamation, Regular Patrols, South China Sea Dispute, Spratlys, USAThe United States and Japan are pushing to get concerns about the South China Sea included in a statement to be issued after regional defense talks in Malaysia despite Chinese objections to any mention of the disputed waterway, officials said. A senior U.S. defense official said Beijing had made clear as early as February that […]
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The Unintended Consequences of the US Freedom of Navigation Operations in the South China Sea
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, Artificial Islands, China, Militarization, Military Conflict, Philippines, Reclamation, Regular Patrols, South China Sea Dispute, Spratlys, USAOver the course of the last several years, tension in the western Pacific has been building. Naval buildups and military modernization efforts continue apace, despite economic downturns. Deployment of ships and new aggressive actions by surface fleets continue unabated. Most recently, plans to spend billions of dollars building up islands that are far from the […]
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How Far Did the United States Go with the Lassen Operation?
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, Artificial Islands, China, Militarization, Military Conflict, Philippines, Reclamation, Regular Patrols, South China Sea Dispute, Spratlys, USAMuch of the coverage of the USS Lassen’s maneuver near the Subi reef in the South China Sea presented the operation as a challenge to Chinese maritime claims and island-building operations. But in fact there are two quite distinct legal issues at play. The first is the traditional U.S. interpretation of the right of innocent […]
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Don’t Believe China’s South China Sea Case Statement
The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruled on late Thursday (October 29, 2015) that it had jurisdiction over a case filed by the Philippines, which contests China’s claims to nearly 90 percent of the South China Sea. In response to the aforementioned PCA’s decision, on October 30, 2015, China released the Statement of the […]
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The Diminishing Returns of Ambiguity in the South China Sea
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, Artificial Islands, China, Militarization, Military Conflict, Philippines, Reclamation, Regular Patrols, South China Sea Dispute, Spratlys, USANovember 03, 2015 798 22 2 0 822 Shares 19 Comments Last Friday, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruled that it has jurisdiction over the Philippines’ submission challenging a number of China’s claims in the South China Sea. This judgment is not only procedurally significant, it is also substantively important because it arguably undercuts […]
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How Is Malaysia Responding to China’s South China Sea Intrusion?
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, Artificial Islands, China, Malaysia, Militarization, Military Conflict, Philippines, Reclamation, Regular Patrols, South China Sea Dispute, Spratlys, USASince 2013, a Chinese coast guard vessel has been defiantly anchored in Malaysian waters at the Luconia Shoals – which Malaysia calls Beting Patinggi Ali – in a vivid demonstration of Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea (See: “Malaysia Responds to China’s South China Sea Intrusion”). The vessel is just 84 nautical miles […]
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Two positive developments in West Philippine Sea dispute
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, Artificial Islands, China, Militarization, Military Conflict, Philippines, Reclamation, Regular Patrols, South China Sea Dispute, Spratlys, USATWO recent positive developments augur well for the Philippine strategy of seeking international arbitration in our long-simmering dispute with China over certain parts of the West Philippine (South China) Sea. But no matter how elating they are, our government should stop short of feeling any sense of triumphalism, lest it distort national perspectives and lead […]