Topic
The latest news on South China Sea territorial disputes. The contrasting claims have been an ongoing point of contention among several countries including China, Brunei, Vietnam and the Philippines.
The Philippines has been furious over what it calls repeated aggression by China’s coastguard and allied fishing vessels around disputed features located inside Manila’s exclusive economic zone.
The emerging Strategic Support Force is leveraging the civilian sector to expand China’s space, cyber, electromagnetic and psychological warfare capabilities.
Taiwan launched its newly renovated pier on Taiping islet in the disputed South China Sea on Tuesday but Tsai Ing-wen’s absence was noted by the opposition.
Manila cannot win on its own, and the US is not interested in getting directly involved, South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative says in latest annual report.
The Philippine flotilla was outnumbered and “surrounded by Chinese ships” during the supply mission, a reporter says.
Le Hoai Trung, the Communist Party’s diplomatic chief, visited China as president Vo Van Thuong was forced to step down amid a corruption scandal.
Foreign vice-minister Chen Xiaodong warns that relations are ‘at a crossroads’ and says Manila must pay ‘serious attention to China’s concerns’.
‘If China is not afraid to state its claims to the world, then why don’t we arbitrate under international law?’ said the Philippines’ defence minister on Monday following a weekend stand-off at Second Thomas Shoal.
Fresh warning comes after Manila accuses Chinese coastguard of blocking a supply boat off disputed shoal and damaging it with water cannons.
Video clips of the attack near Second Thomas Shoal showed a white ship repeatedly dousing another vessel sailing alongside it with a water cannon.
Critics say the costs of implementing the Reserve Officers Training Corps bill and doubts over its strategic impact mean efforts are better redirected towards modernising the military
Hu Bo, director of a Beijing-based think tank, warns that drones being operated from the other side of the world increase the risk of pilot error.
US involvement in the Batanes port could have stoked tension amid growing friction with China and Washington’s push to step up defence engagements with the Philippines.
Vo Van Thuong has been effectively dismissed after just 14 months in the top job, raising concerns about the country’s future direction.
A brief statement from Beijing provides few details beyond saying the Chinese coastguard had ‘handled the incident’.
Manila looks likely to pass a law outlining its claims to the disputed waters in the hope of strengthening its hand following a series of clashes.
The US has been stepping up bilateral and trilateral defence cooperation with Japan and the Philippines to counter China’s territorial claims and military build-up.
Congress hears plea for more funding, speed and capability to protect strategically vital American territory as PLA enhances its missile technology.
On the same day, Chinese embassy in the Philippines says Washington should refrain from ‘instigating trouble’ in the South China Sea.
The threat from Beijing’s sweeping South China Sea claims is growing, the Philippine president said in an interview – but he hopes ‘the time never comes’ that he has to invoke a mutual defence treaty with the US.
Nearly 40 per cent of respondents said Indonesia and other Asean states should form an alliance to defend Jakarta’s sovereignty in the South China Sea.
Beijing has released a series of points to define its waters along its southern coast, which some observers say extends its maritime area.
US President Joe Biden’s press secretary confirmed the April 11 meeting with Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and Fumio Kishida to ‘advance a trilateral partnership built on deep historical ties of friendship’.
Biden, Kishida and Marcos Jnr are set to meet next month in a landmark summit over the issue deemed by Manila to be the top ‘flashpoint’.
The port in Batanes could facilitate rapid troop deployment and serve as a transit point for supplies and evacuated Filipinos in the event of a conflict.
The US secretary of state will meet South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul to explore how to boost their alliance and ‘extended deterrence’ against North Korea.
China’s defence ministry says Philippines ‘resorted to deception’ and ‘played victim’ in latest clash near contested Second Thomas Shoal.