USA
-
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 […]
-
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 […]
-
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 […]
-
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 […]
-
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 […]
-
San Francisco rally – ‘Destroy China military bases,’ ‘UN ruling against China invasion now’
SAN FRANCISCO, California — Shouting “China out now!”, Filipino Americans in the Bay Area on July 24 joined their counterparts in other part of the United States and other capital cities in the world in denouncing what they called the invasion of the Philippines by China. Carrying inverted Philippine flags, the San Francisco contingent marched […]
-
US: South China Sea tension ‘a little’ toned down
MANILA, Philippines — The territorial row between China and its neighbors, including the Philippines, over the South China Sea has become less intense in the past weeks, the US Department of State said Friday. Marie Harf, deputy spokesperson, confirmed the observation that rival claimants have “toned down,” not exchanging statements asserting their claims and not […]
-
US Should Help Vietnam Counter China’s Coercion
Last October, during a visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung promised to buttress “political trust” between the two South China Sea (SCS) claimants. Last week, while I was speaking at a conference in Da Nang, Vietnam where the Chinese were visibly absent, verbal accusations were flying both on land […]
-
Who is China to act like a leader?
After weeks of trying to gain an insight into the thought process of the military junta in Thailand, it seems there is always someone around here who needs a wakeup call. Although I wanted to question the wit of those who approved visa-free entry to Chinese without reciprocal action from our giant neighbour to the […]