News Story: Chinese navy fleet arrives in Brunei for friendly visit

Chinese Navy Warships underway (File Photo)

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese naval fleet arrived at the Muara port of Brunei on Monday for a three-day friendly visit to the country, conveying a message of friendship and cooperation.

The Chinese naval fleet docked at Brunei's largest port, receiving a warm welcome by the Bruneian navy, government officials and Chinese Embassy officials, as well as Chinese living in the sultanate.

Speaking upon the fleet's arrival, Shen Hao, commander of the Chinese naval fleet, said at the welcoming ceremony that the friendly exchanges between the two countries date back to more than 1,500 years ago, and the traditional friendship between the two peoples has been continuing to grow.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Brunei's Sultan cautions army of cyber-related threats

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Brunei's armed force should be ready to deal with the cyber-related threats which prevailed in the digital age, said Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, Brunei's Sultan on Sunday.

Delivering a speech on the 56th Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) anniversary, the Sultan, who is also the country's minister of defense and supreme commander of RBAF, emphasized the importance for RBAF personnel to strengthen their respective internal fortress and adhere to the ethics of social media usage as part of the wider efforts to safeguard against radicalization and extremism.

Apart from this, the Sultan also raised the increasing prevalence of cyber-related threats in today's digital age and took note of the on-going efforts undertaken by the Ministry of Defense and the RBAF in enhancing Cyber Defense.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Disputed Asian Sea Fails Despite 2 Decades of Discussion

Ralph Jennings

TAIPEI — Countries with competing claims to the South China Sea have failed to start joint resource projects with the strongest one, China, despite discussions over the past two decades, as they fear unequal results or a loss of sovereignty.

Front-line countries in Southeast Asia worry they would take a minor role compared to China or end up ceding marine resources because China is bigger and more advanced.

“Other countries are still expecting Beijing to be more of a responsible stakeholder in terms of their performance and behavior in the South China Sea,” said Andrew Yang, secretary-general of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies think tank in Taiwan.

China in turn may suspect that domestic politics in a democratic country such as the Philippines could disrupt a deal, experts say.

News Story: Task Group deployment to strengthen regional military cooperation

An Australian Defence Force (ADF) Joint Task Group, Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2017, departed Sydney today to participate in a series of key military exercises throughout the Indo-Pacific region.

Running from 4 September to 26 November, Indo-Pacific Endeavour will focus on enhancing military cooperation with some of Australia’s key regional partners including Brunei, Cambodia, the Federated States of Micronesia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Timor-Leste.

More than 1200 ADF personnel will participate in the deployment, which is being led by Canberra-class amphibious assault ship HMAS Adelaide.

HMAS Adelaide will be accompanied at various stages of the deployment by HMAS Melbourne, HMAS Darwin, HMAS Toowoomba, HMAS Parramatta, and HMAS Sirius, making this the biggest coordinated task group deployment since the early 1980s.

Minister Payne said the Indo-Pacific Endeavour deployment, which has been in planning for over 12 months, was part of ongoing efforts to enhance and develop strong positive relations with regional militaries through both dialogue and practical activities.

USA: SEACAT enhances cooperative maritime security in South, Southeast Asia

From Task Force 73 Public Affairs

Liaison officers coordinate exercise activities during SEACAT, Aug. 28 at Changi Naval Base in Singapore. (U.S. Navy/MC2 Joshua Fulton) >>

SINGAPORE - The 16th annual Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) exercise commenced Aug. 21 in Singapore, Brunei, and the Philippines, focusing on shared maritime security challenges of the region.

The goal of the exercise, which continues through Sept. 1, is to increase multilateral cooperation and information sharing among navies and coast guards across South and Southeast Asia. The exercise will continue through Sept 1.

"SEACAT brings nations together for meaningful dialogue, knowledge sharing, and practical training to address common challenges of piracy, sea smuggling, and other illegal activities at sea," said Rear Adm. Don Gabrielson, commander, Logistics Group Western Pacific (COMLOGWESTPAC). "We appreciate that regional nations see the value in working together, evidenced by a growing number of participants.

News Story: Philippines, Chinese coast guards hold maritime exercises

A Philippine Coast Guard Ship

By Evelyn Macairan

MANILA, Philippines - Despite China’s creeping occupation of land features within Philippine waters, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has embarked on a joint maritime law enforcement operation with its Chinese counterpart in accordance with President Duterte’s instructions.

PCG spokesman Commander Armand Balilo said that since President Duterte’s visit to China last year, the PCG has established better rapport with the Chinese Coast Guard, while maintaining good relations with the United States Coast Guard (USCG).

“The Philippine Coast Guard has received guidance from the President to cooperate and forge an agreement with the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG), so we have clear cut guidelines from the President,” Balilo said. “Our actions are aligned with the guidance of President Duterte.”

Aside from a series of meetings with the CCG, the PCG sent 20 of its officers to China last May for a two-week law enforcement training. Also in the works is a visit of a CCG ship to the Philippines possibly next month.

Balilo said improving relationship with China is in the best interest of the PCG as it would enhance the skills of its personnel in combatting sea piracy, terrorism and illegal drugs – the problems Duterte wants immediately addressed.

The PCG is also currently collaborating with the USCG and with the coast guards of six other member-countries of the Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) exercise.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: U.S., Southeast Asian navies, coast guards to start maritime exercises

MANILA, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Navies and coast guard personnel from the United States and participating Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines will start their annual maritime security exercises on Monday, a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) official said on Sunday.

PCG spokesman Armand Balilo said in a statement that the Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) exercise 2017 will include actual "at-sea exercises" and maritime seminars in the Philippines, Singapore and Brunei.

As in the past years, Balilo said SEACAT this year will focus on regional cooperation to address shared maritime security challenges like terrorism, smuggling, piracy and other illicit activities at sea.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: ASEAN goes soft on China

By Pia Lee-Brago and Edu Punay

MANILA, Philippines -  The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is seen to take a softer stand on China’s aggressive moves in disputed waters and to highlight instead the conclusion of negotiations on a framework of the Code of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (COC).

The latest talks on the COC were held on May 18 in Guiyang, China.

In a draft statement, ASEAN foreign ministers said they tasked the ASEAN-China Senior Officials’ Consultation (ACSOC) mechanism to begin discussions on a substantive and effective COC on the basis of the framework as soon as possible. 

ASEAN and China are set to endorse a framework for a COC that will regulate the future behavior of the parties concerned during the meeting in Manila this week. The framework will be endorsed for eventual crafting of a COC.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the framework, completed ahead of the mid-2017 goal set by the leaders of ASEAN and China, contains elements which the parties have agreed to.

But the draft does not call for a legally binding COC, as some ASEAN countries had wanted.

Pending conclusion of a substantive COC, the ministers reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security and freedom of navigation and overflight in and above the South China Sea. 

“In this regard, we underscored the importance of the full and effective implementation of the DOC (Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea) in its entirety,” the draft communiqué said.

“Taking note of concerns expressed by some ministers over recent developments in the area, we reaffirmed the importance of enhancing mutual trust and confidence, exercising self-restraint in the conduct of activities, pursuing mutually agreed practical maritime areas of cooperation, and avoiding unilateral actions in disputed features that may further complicate the situation in keeping with the principle of peaceful resolution of disputes without resorting to the threat or use of force,” the draft statement said.

The draft communiqué did not mention the July 12, 2016 arbitral ruling in favor of the Philippines.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: Nations agree to boost cooperation on fighting terrorism - Indonesian official

JAKARTA, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and Brunei Darussalam have pledged to step up cooperation in combating terrorists following the IS's militant strikes in the Philippines, a senior official said here Monday.

Indonesian Chief Security Minister Wiranto made the remarks after attending the sub-regional meeting on foreign terrorist fighters and cross-border terrorism in Manado city of North Sulawesi province at the weekend.

The meeting agreed on the establishment of a forum on counter foreign terrorist fighters in a bid to strengthen cooperation and share information among the law enforcers and intelligence, Wiranto said.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: UK to Send Brand New Ships to Disputed South China Sea for Drills

HMS Queen Elizabeth (Click Image to Enlarge)

The United Kingdom will send two aircraft carriers on freedom of navigation exercises in the disputed South China Sea, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the media outlet, UK’s modern HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier is the largest ship built for the UK Royal Navy and it is currently undergoing tests.

The vessel should be accepted by the navy by the end of 2017. The second ship, the HMS Prince of Wales, is currently being fitted out in a Scottish shipyard.

"One of the first things we will do with the two new colossal aircraft carriers that we have just built is send them on a freedom of navigation operation to this area… to vindicate our belief in the rules-based international system and in the freedom of navigation through those waterways which are absolutely vital for world trade," Johnson said during his visit to Sydney as quoted by The Guardian newspaper.

The South China Sea area is a disputed region claimed by Brunei, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam, as it is believed that it has vast energy resources. China claims 90 percent of the area and has repeatedly said that all of the country's activities in the region are China's sovereign right. China also constructs artificial islands and enhances its military presence in the sea.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Story: Regional talks on counter-terror focusing on Marawi issue to be held in Indonesia

JAKARTA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and Brunei will have a meeting over the weekend in Indonesia, planning out a strategy to battle terrorists in Marawi city of the Philippines, an official said here on Wednesday.

Indonesian Chief Security Minister Wiranto said the two-day meeting will kick off on July 29 in Manado, the provincial capital of North Sulawesi, Wiranto said.

The minister revealed that the meeting would deepen observation on the latest situation linked with terrorist activities in the Marawi city, and how to find a strategy to anticipate it.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Chinese Charm in Southeast Asia Shows Signs of Chafing

Ralph Jennings

TAIPEI — China’s use of economic aid to placate angry neighbors is still seen as effective in allowing it to consolidate its controversial claims in the South China Sea, but it is also showing early signs of wearing thin a year after an international court rejected Beijing's legal basis for maritime claims that have put it at odds with much of Southeast Asia.

At the request of the Philippines, a world court arbitration tribunal in The Hague ruled in July 2016 that Beijing was violating other countries’ exclusive economic zones in the South China Sea.

China has used ‘aid as sweetener’ in South China Sea dispute

Beijing rejected the decision but since then has stepped up aid and investment to four Southeast Asian countries. Those states resent China for building artificial islets for military use and passing coast guard ships in contested tracts of the sea -- before as well as after the ruling. Analysts say China hopes that aid will deter other countries from filing another case in The Hague.

“Even China is being careful in order to avoid a second case from being filed,” said Jay Batongbacal, director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea at the University of the Philippines. “It’s forced to try to really increase economic ties.”

News Story: 11 TPP countries to meet in Japan

Hanoi (VNA) – Representatives from 11 Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member countries are expected to meet in Hakone town, west of Tokyo, Japan on July 12.

The three-day meeting follows a breakthrough last week on a Japan-European Union trade deal reached after four years of negotiation, which marks a great advance in free trade in the context of the US pulling back from the TPP.

Other TPP members hope to make progress on an alternative that does not include the US called “TPP 11” or “TPP 12-1” before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting in Vietnam in November.

Read the full story at VietnamPlus

News Report: Obstacles at Bay, Beijing Steps up Control Over Disputed South China Sea

Ralph Jennings

TAIPEI — Beijing has reached a new peak in its bid to control the widely disputed South China Sea after pacifying rivals, keeping Washington away and building out artificial islands that are ready for military hardware.

China will be able to keep three fighter-jet regiments on the same number of islets that it has constructed in the sea, according to a June 6 Pentagon report. China’s estimated 3,200 acres (1,294 hectares) of reclaimed land in the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea will be used largely for military installations, a think tank forecast in March.

Joint military exercises with Russia

In another sign of tighter maritime control, Beijing’s official Xinhua News Agency said Sunday that a Chinese destroyer, frigate, supply ship and helicopter had joined Russian vessels for phase one of “complex” and “lengthy” joint military exercises that are starting in the South China Sea. Russia has the world’s second most powerful armed forces and China the third.

“I think there is an unspoken understanding that there’s no way China can be stopped,” said Collin Koh, maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “I think it’s a fact that China is the dominant player there other than the U.S.”

News Report: Time Bomb Ticking - Threat of Daesh Hangs Over Southeast Asia

Five ASEAN countries are joining forces to counter the threat posed to the region by the internationally-condemned terrorist organization Daesh.

Around 62% of the world's Muslims live in the Asia-Pacific region, which stretches from Turkey to Indonesia; they number 1 billion people.

The world's largest Muslim population resides not in the Middle East, but in Indonesia, making it a highly desirable goal for Daesh. Their plan is to make the world’s fourth most populous country (after China, India and the USA) a fanatical Islamic caliphate.

The Southeast Asia region in particular is home to about three hundred million Muslims. 

The Indonesian defense minister, Ryamizard Ryacudu, is set to meet with his counterparts from Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Singapore to discuss the rising threat.

Natalia Rogozhina, a PhD in Political Science who is the leading research associate at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, spoke to Sputnik Vietnam in an interview about this development.

News Story: Defense diplomacy remains Brunei force's key strategy to resolve maritime rows - deputy minister

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Defense diplomacy remains at the core of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces' (RBAF) strategy in resolving maritime conflicts that have seen a few flashpoints recently, Brunei's Deputy Minister of Defense Abdul Aziz said when marking the occasion of the RBAF's 56th anniversary on Wednesday.

"Such maritime tensions will continue to be a political issue which for Brunei Darussalam is best dealt with consultations," he told local media.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Unlike ASEAN, G7 leaders send strong statement on South China Sea

By Patricia Lourdes Viray

MANILA, Philippines — Contrary to their Southeast Asian counterparts, the leaders of the Group of Seven advanced economies reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining a rules-based order in the East and South China Seas.

The G7—composed of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States—urged all parties to pursue demilitarization of disputed features in the region.

"We reaffirm our commitment to maintaining a rules-based order in the maritime domain based on the principles of international law, including as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and to the peaceful settlement of maritime disputes through diplomatic and legal means, including arbitration," the G7 leaders said in a joint communique following their meeting in Taormina, Italy last Saturday.

The leaders were also strongly opposed to any unilateral actions that could increase tensions in the region.

This statement from the G7 leaders appears to be stronger than the Chairman's Statement of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations issued on April 29.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Report: Taiwan Can’t Negotiate, Likely to Observe Rules on South China Sea

Ralph Jennings

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Taiwan is expected to follow any agreements reached by other governments that compete with its claims to nearly the entire South China Sea as a show of strategic goodwill, even though it can neither negotiate nor sign the deals.

China and an organization representing four Southeast Asian countries that claim the sea are working on the framework for a code of conduct that would help head off mishaps among fishing boats, oil rigs and coast guard vessels. Separately, China is talking to Vietnam and the Philippines about their own deals in waters that Taiwan claims.

Taiwan lacks formal diplomatic relations in Asia because China sees it as part of its own territory rather than as a sovereign state. Beijing uses its economic clout to stop other countries from pursuing economic or security deals with Taipei.

“We have limited tools in our box,” said Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. “If China signed the code of conduct, we would have no choice but follow the code of conduct. Even if we dispute, I think we would be further alienated and even be punished.”

News Story: Pacific trade negotiators explore TPP deal without US

Hanoi (VNA) – Negotiators from 11 member countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement gathered for a meeting in Toronto, Canada on May 2 to explore the possibility of putting the trade pact into force without the US. 

Japan’s chief negotiator, Keiichi Katakami on May 1-2 met with nine out of his ten counterparts to lay the groundwork for the two-day meeting. 

Speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting, Katakami stressed the 11 countries need to unite to enable the deal to take effect. 

Japan hopes to strike a new deal by mid-November when Vietnam will host a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, he added.

Read the full story at VietnamPlus

News Story: BIMP must fight Sayyaf – Duterte

By Edith Regalado and Pia Lee-Brago

DAVAO CITY , Philippines  – President Duterte has sought the help of the leaders of Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia to confront the threat posed by the Abu Sayyaf, which has been victimizing both foreigners and Filipinos.

The President issued the call during the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia and the Philippines (BIMP)-East ASEAN Growth Area leaders’ meeting, held on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit last Saturday.

“We have to do something about this now and I need your help,” Duterte told Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Indonesian President Joko Widodo during the meeting.

The three were among those who attended the ASEAN Leaders’ Summit in Manila.

Duterte likewise told the three to let their naval officials and other authorities go after suspected Abu Sayyaf members, even if they are already in the Philippine territorial waters in a pursuit operation.

The three reportedly agreed to the President’s request and that they have vowed to come up with measures on how to go after the Abu Sayyaf.

The notorious group of bandits has been responsible for a series of abductions whose victims mostly had ended up beheaded.

The Abu Sayyaf bandits are also known to consider Sulu as their lair, although they have lately been reported to have also gone to the resort island of Bohol.

Read the full story at PhilStar