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Letters

At the memorial service held for Republican senator John McCain, former US president Barack Obama praised him for, among other virtues, not “﻿bending the truth to suit political expediency”.
I’m afraid such bending of the truth is exactly what some Western powers are guilty of, in challenging China’s right to exercise sovereignty over the South China Sea archipelagos, the Spratlys and the Paracels.
The archipelagos were specifically referred to in the treaty of peace between Japan and the Republic of China in 1952. The Rand McNally maps in 1947 labelled the Paracels as “China”.
In 2016, an international tribunal went to great lengths to bend the truth, ruling that none of the features in the Spratlys qualified as an island – not even the self-sustaining Taiping Island – in order to strike down the validity of the nine-dash line.
Watch: The South China Sea dispute explained


‘Story of Yanxi Palace’ fans face South China Sea sovereignty test
The nine-dash line was never meant to be a territorial boundary. So, striking it down in no way negates Chinese sovereignty over the archipelagos. China has never denied innocent passage to foreign aircraft and ships, even within the territorial waters and airspace of the archipelagos, which is what freedom of navigation is about.
Peter Lok, Heng Fa Chuen


China bids to host High Seas Treaty secretariat, even as US exits UN bodies

Philippines’ first gas discovery in over a decade offers hope for looming energy crisis

PLA sends drone into airspace near Taiwan-held Pratas Island in South China Sea

How US actions in Venezuela and beyond could spell opportunity for China

South China Sea

How the West bends the truth in the South China Sea

Former US president Barack Obama speaks during a memorial service for senator John McCain, at the Washington National Cathedral on September 1. Of McCain, whom he defeated in the 2008 presidential elections, Obama said: “He understood that if we get in the habit of bending the truth to suit political expediency or party orthodoxy, our system will not work.” Photo: Bloomberg

With a wary eye on China’s maritime expansion, the US is switching up a gear in the Indo-Pacific

Illustration: Craig Stephens

TO GO WITH SriLanka-economy-infrastructure,FOCUS by Amal Jayasinghe In this photograph taken on February 10, 2015, shows a general view of the port facility at Hambantota. From a multi-million dollar airport ignored by airlines to a lavish cricket stadium rejected by players, Sri Lanka's new government is mulling the future of a string of white elephants. AFP PHOTO / LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI / AFP PHOTO / LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI

French and British navies draw closer in the Pacific. Should China worry?

French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly listens to a speech by British defence secretary Gavin Williamson (not pictured) at the fifth plenary session of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Sunday. Franco-British naval cooperation in the region is already a reality, and could grow even further. Photo: EPA-EFE

Britain's Secretary of State for Defense Gavin Williamson takes his leave after a media huddle aboard the HMS Sutherland Royal Navy ship docked at Sembawang Wharves on the sidelines of the 17th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-la Dialogue, an annual defense and security forum in Asia, in Singapore, Sunday, June 3, 2018. (AP Photo/Yong Teck Lim)

Miltary bases in the South China Sea Military assets (4) China's jets CHINA (2) China's missiles Q PLA runway Taiwan Hong Kong China's "nine-dash" claim line L U ZO 7 Hainan Strait Yulin O naVal baSe O Woody Island N 423 PHILIPPINES - ParaCel Islands THAILAND O BaSa Air BaSe CAMBODA VETNAM Mji md0 r0 Strait Subi Reef Of Fiery Cross Reef O o Mischief Reef Iery CrOSS Ree  s Balaba C er Strait Spratly Islands MALAYSIA James Shoal

As his widow weeps, John McCain’s long journey ends on a grassy hill, near where it all began

McCain has been buried at the US Naval Academy next to his classmate and friend, Admiral Chuck Larson

In this photo released by the McCain Family, the family follows as the casket of Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is moved from the Chapel on the grounds of the United States Navel Academy after a service on September 2, 2018, in Annapolis, Maryland. - A nearly weeklong celebration of the life of US senator John McCain -- war hero, maverick, two-time presidential candidate and outspoken critic of Donald Trump -- came to a solemn and subdued end on as he was laid to rest at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly / McCain Family / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / McCain Family/ David Hume Kennerly- NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Spectators watch a hearse containing the body of the late Senator John McCain arrive for a private memorial service and burial at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, U.S., September 2, 2018. REUTERS/Mary F. Calvert

epa06993551 A handout photo made available by the McCain family shows the horse-drawn caisson bearing the body of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., moves through the grounds of the United Sates Naval Academy toward the cemetery after a service in the Chapel in Annapolis, Maryland, USA, 02 September 2018. EPA-EFE/David Hume Kennerly / MCCAIN FAMILYHANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

In this image provided by the family of John McCain, Jimmy McCain hugs his brother Jack McCain, touching the casket, as Cindy McCain, watches during a burial service for John McCain at the cemetery at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, on Sunday. Photo: AP

Opinion

Paracel Islands