News Story: Vietnam, Australia hold foreign affairs, defence strategic dialogue

Sydney (VNA) – The fifth foreign affairs and defence strategic dialogue at the deputy ministerial level between Vietnam and Australia was organised in Canberra on September 27.

The event was chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Dinh Quy and Australia’s Deputy Secretary Defence People Rebecca Skinner and Deputy Secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Gary Quinlan.

During the dialogue, the two sides agreed to continue boosting the Vietnam-Australia relations in the fields of politics, economics, trade, defence, security, agriculture, education and training, tourism and people-to-people diplomacy.

They exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual concern, while pledging to maintain close coordination at multilateral forums, including the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and forums led by ASEAN such as the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum, in order to promote dialogue and cooperation, and maintain peace, stability and order in the region.

Read the full story at VietnamPlus

News Story: Shifting tactics - China advances 'four sha' claim in South China Sea

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By Patricia Lourdes Viray

MANILA, Philippines — Shifting away from its nine-dash line claim in the South China Sea, Beijing has forwarded a new sovereignty claim over the island groups in the disputed waters.

China's "four sha" (Chinese for sand) claim covers sovereignty and maritime entitlements from four island groups in the South China Sea—the Pratas Islands, Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands and the Macclesfield Bank area—according to a report from The Washington Free Beacon.

The Pratas Islands are occupied by Taiwan while the Paracel Islands are being disputed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam. Parts of the Macclesfield Bank are being claimed by China and Taiwan.

Meanwhile, there is an ongoing territorial dispute between China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam over the ownership of the Spratly Islands.

According to the report, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has laid its new tactic to assert its claims over the disputed sea in a closed-door meeting with US State Department officials last month.

International law experts Julian Ku and Christopher Mirasola, however, said that China's four sha claims are no more lawful than its nine-dash line claim.

"The challenge for critics of Chinese claims in the South China Sea, however, will be effectively explaining and articulating why this shift does not actually strengthen China’s legal claims in the South China Sea," Ku and Mirasola said in an article published by Lawfare.

In July 2016, the United Nations-backed tribunal invalidated the nine-dash line claim and ruled that Beijing violated its commitment under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Report: India to Investigate Pakistan’s Alleged Role in DPRK Nuclear Program

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has announced that they will be conducting an investigation into potential links between India’s rival Pakistan and the North Korean nuclear programs, promising to “hold accountable” those who have assisted North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj "deplored North Korea's recent actions and stated that its proliferation linkages must be explored and those involved must be held accountable," according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar on Monday.

While Kumar did not directly name Pakistan in his comment, he did say that he was "giving you enough material to try to figure out what we are talking about."

Pakistan, a nuclear power, has been accused on many occasions of assisting North Korea in its nuclear ambitions. In 2004, Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder and chief scientist of Pakistan's nuclear program, claimed that he had sold nuclear secrets to North Korea, Libya, and Iran. 

News Story: Vietnam, Japan want effective COC in East (South China) Sea

Tokyo (VNA) – Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Defence Nguyen Chi Vinh and his Japanese counterpart Ro Manabe agreed at a meeting on September 12 that the China-ASEAN Code of Conduct (COC) on the East (South China) Sea should be effective and legally binding. 

At their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 9th ASEAN-Japan Defence Vice-Ministerial Forum in Fukuoka, Japan, the Japanese Deputy Defence Minister lauded the growing defence cooperation between Japan ASEAN nations, including Vietnam.

He proposed an informal meeting between the Japanese Defence Minister and ASEAN counterparts be organised in the framework of the upcoming ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM-plus) in October, saying that such a meeting will help intensify the ties between Japan and ASEAN nations, and create an opportunity for the new Japanese Defence Minister to get acquainted with ASEAN partners.

Ro Manabe noted that Japan is very interested in the negotiations to finalise the China-ASEAN Code of Conduct (COC), adding that Japan wants to cooperate with Vietnam in maintaining peace and security and ensuring maritime security in the East Sea.

Read the full story at VietnamPlus

Think Tank: A contested Asia - What comes after US strategic predominance? (Part 2)

Peter Varghese

PacificSentinel: Part 1 can be found HERE

The concept of a balance of power has lost its appeal to many scholars and practitioners of international relations. But in my view it still matters. I take comfort that the late Lee Kwan Yew, a shrewd observer of our strategic environment, understood both the importance of a balance in Asia and the need to view it as more than just a military balance. Lee observed: ‘In the old concept, balance of power meant largely military power. In today’s terms, it is a combination of economic and military, and I think the economic outweighs the military.’

Already such a de facto balance is in the making through the shared desire of the US, India, Japan and others to balance China. Each has its own geopolitical and historical reasons, of which the non-democratic character of China is by no means the primary driver. This is not a classic balance-of-power grouping. It’s an organic, not an orchestrated arrangement.

Where Korea eventually lines up is an open question. The ROK is an ally of the US. But what would be the disposition of a united Korea? Would it lean towards China or the US? Or, more likely, would it seek an independent path with or without nuclear weapons? A united Korea is likely to be a democracy, which suggests it will at least lean towards balancing China. But no one knows which options will eventuate, which is one reason China doesn’t want to push the North Korean regime to the point of collapse.

News Report: US Experts - Strike on North Korea Would Not Need Seoul’s OK

Baik Sungwon

South Korea's president says military action against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats cannot be carried out on the Korean peninsula without his government’s consent, but former U.S. military commanders and analysts have a different reading of the situation.

For weeks, tit-for-tat threats exchanged by U.S. President Donald Trump and the Kim Jong Un regime have made it appear a direct conflict is possible. Through it all, however, South Korean President Moon Jae-in has said he would stand in the way of another battle on the peninsula, where a state of war has technically remained in effect since the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

According to Moon, who has long advocated engagement and outreach to Pyongyang, “Military action on the Korean peninsula can only be decided by South Korea, and no one else can decide on a military action without South Korean agreement."

Trump, however, has not ruled out unilateral military action by the United States, if necessary to prevent the Kim regime from using the nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles it claims to have in an attack against the U.S. mainland. North Korea test-launched two ICBMs last month, and recent published reports in the West suggested Pyongyang's engineers successfully fabricated nuclear warheads small and robust enough to be carried as a missile's payload.

News Story: Amanah - Don’t let Malaysia be China’s military satellite

Amanah deputy president Salahuddin Ayub says no Asean nation has opened its borders for a defence base of this kind, belonging to a foreign power.

PETALING JAYA: Amanah deputy president Salahuddin Ayub is concerned that Putrajaya is in danger of making Malaysia a new “satellite” of China in its haste to shore up relations with the economic and military superpower.

Salahuddin, who is also Pakatan Harapan vice-president, said reports that Malaysia will consider China’s proposal to set up a regional counter-intelligence centre in Johor equipped with radar surveillance and a missile system indicate that the country risks becoming subservient to Chinese interests.

“There are already many national assets that have been pawned away to China at present,” he said.

“We do not now want a situation where the country’s administration would have to abide by China’s directions in the future.

“Look at the experience of African nations that received gigantic investments and loans from China, and eventually had to comply with the demands that it made,” Salahuddin said in a statement today.

He said there was still time for Prime Minister Najib Razak to act appropriately in the matter for the interest of the people and the nation.

He said the government’s move to consider China’s latest proposal was worrying also because it would drag Malaysia into the “cauldron” of superpower conflict, as the United States and many other countries would be opposed to it.

Read the full story at Free Malaysia Today

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PacificSentinel: If this happens it might be the end of the Five Power Defence Arrangement (FPDA), I doubt Australia & Singapore will allow Malaysia (due to Chinese "regional counter-intelligence") to become a threat to their nations & still adhere to the FPDA.

News Story: US vows to challenge excessive sea claims

Image: Flickr User - Greg Bishop

By Pia Lee-Brago

MANILA, Philippines - Saying it is not about any particular country or about making a political statement, the United States has stressed that it will invoke freedom of navigation and challenge excessive maritime claims anywhere in the globe.

In a recent press briefing in Washington, US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said US forces operate in the Asia-Pacific region, including the South China Sea, on a daily basis under a comprehensive freedom of navigation program (FONOP).

She explained that the operations, conducted in accordance with international law, are meant to demonstrate that the US will continue to fly, sail and operate “wherever international law allows.”

“It’s true in the South China Sea; it’s true in other places around the world as well,” Nauert said.

A US Navy destroyer carried out a “freedom of navigation operation” on Thursday, coming within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island built up by China in the South China Sea.

The USS John S. McCain traveled close to Mischief or Panganiban Reef in the Spratly Islands, among a string of islets, reefs and shoals.

Slamming the FONOP, the Chinese armed forces immediately sent naval ships to identify and verify the US warship and warned it to leave.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Report: South China Sea Tensions Escalate, Risk 'Involving More and More Countries'

China accused the United States of breaching its sovereignty and international law norms after an American warship came close to the Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea. Beijing claims the islands to be part of its territory.

"The USS John S. McCain entered the neighboring waters of relevant islands and reefs of China's Nansha Qundao without the permission of the Chinese government. … The relevant acts of the US warship violated Chinese laws and international law, severely undermined China's sovereignty and security," Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said in a statement.

On August 10, a US guided missile destroyer, the USS John S. McCain, sailed within 6 miles of the man-made Mischief Reef in the Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea, during a "freedom of navigation exercise" in the disputed region.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, such actions do not contribute to sustaining stability in the region, being the "biggest factor in the 'militarization' of the South China Sea."

News Story: US, allies slow Beijing's South China Sea momentum

By Jim Gomez

MANILA, Philippines — With the rise of a friendly leader in the Philippines, China has been spared a vocal adversary in the disputed South China Sea. In the process, it has gained momentum despite last year's ruling by an arbitration tribunal that invalidated its expansive claims in the disputed waters.

The rapprochement between President Rodrigo Duterte and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, defused a tense standoff between the Asian neighbors last year at the disputed Scarborough Shoal, where China allowed Filipinos back to fish in October as years of thorny relations began to brighten.

As President Donald Trump succeeded Barack Obama, who had challenged China's assertive advances in the disputed sea, US allies wondered if Trump would press America's role as a regional counterbalance to the Asian powerhouse.

An annual summit of Asia-Pacific nations hosted by the Philippines over the weekend, however, delivered a reality check to Beijing.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met his Australian and Japanese counterparts on the sidelines of the meetings in Manila of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. After their meeting, they issued a joint statement that blasted aggressive actions in the contested offshore territories — without, of course, naming Beijing directly, in line with diplomatic practice.

Nevertheless, China quickly voiced its irritation.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: US, Japan, Australia Urge Binding Code for South China Sea

The United States, Japan and Australia expressed "serious concerns" Monday over disputes concerning the South China Sea, while calling for a halt to land reclamation and military actions in the area that could increase tensions or cause permanent environmental damage.

The three countries issued a joint statement after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono met in the Philippines on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial meeting.

They called on China and the Philippines to abide by an arbitration ruling last year that invalidated much of China's territorial claim to the South China Sea, which is claimed in part by Taiwan and ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

News Report: Germany Claims Vietnam Kidnapped Asylum-Seeker Wanted By Hanoi

Ha Nguyen, Trung Nguyen

WASHINGTON — The German government has condemned Vietnam’s “unprecedented and blatant violation” of German and international law by kidnapping a Vietnamese citizen seeking asylum in Berlin and returning him to Hanoi to face criminal charges.

The German foreign ministry expelled a Vietnamese intelligence officer and summoned Vietnam’s ambassador to hear a complaint that the incident “has the potential to have a massive negative impact on relations between Germany and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”

A statement issued in Berlin Wednesday said senior German officials have “no reasonable doubt” that Vietnamese security services and embassy staff carried out the kidnapping last week of Trinh Xuan Thanh, 51, an executive of the state-owned energy company PetroVietnam, which has been the target of recent corruption investigations that have ensnared government and business leaders. Thanh is accused of responsibility for nearly $150 million in losses by a division of PetroVietnam at a time when he headed that group.

News Report: South China Sea is in Epicenter of Int'l Brawls Making ‘Co-Existing’ Impossible

The calm in the South China Sea, as many had warned, was illusory. Moreover, in the summer the situation in the region has become further aggravated. To add fuel to the fire, recently Hanoi has struck back following calls from Beijing to stop oil exploration in Block 136-03 of the South China Sea. Sputnik spoke to an analyst about this issue.

"Vietnam’s petroleum-related activities take place in the sea entirely under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of Vietnam established in accordance with international law," Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry said Friday.

However, Beijing reportedly threatened to attack Vietnamese positions in the Spratly/Nansha Islands of the sea if an oil discovery operation led by Spanish oil firm Respol was not called off on July 15.

This incident clearly shows that the tensions that arose after the abolition of joint Chinese-Vietnamese exercises this June are still quite strong. 

News Report: China-Vietnam Oil Dispute in South China Sea Intensifies

Hanoi has struck back following calls from Beijing to stop oil exploration in Block 136-03 of the South China Sea. China claims a huge section of the sea and has been ramping up construction of defensive installations in some sections, despite competing claims by Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam and other nations.

"Vietnam’s petroleum-related activities take place in the sea entirely under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of Vietnam established in accordance with international law," Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry said Friday.

However, Beijing reportedly threatened to attack Vietnamese positions in the Spratly Islands of the sea if an oil discovery operation led by Respol was not called off on July 15.

News Report: Beijing Urges US to Avoid Provocative Actions in China's Coastal Area

China hopes that the US Navy will avoid provocative actions in China's coastal area, as they may have a negative impact on the relations between the two countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang said Tuesday.

BEIJING (Sputnik) — On Monday, US Department of Defense spokesperson Capt. Jeff Davis said that two Chinese J-10 fighter jets intercepted Sunday a US surveillance plane in the East China Sea, nearly colliding with it.

"Recently the US vessels have often come close to China's coastal areas for surveillance purposes, such actions have negative impact on China-US relations and pose a threat to China's security… Beijing hopes that the United States will stop these activities and will avoid incident like the one noted," Lu said, commenting on the recent incident.

He stressed that China had always complied with international law to ensure safe, over-sea flights, and had always ensured mutual trust in its relations with other countries in order to resolve emerging disputes in a constructive way.

Chinese authorities have repeatedly voiced their protests against US actions in the region, which are considered by Beijing as violations of its own sovereignty. On July, Beijing expressed its outrage over US guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem entering the waters off the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, known in China as the Xisha Islands. According to Lu, the US actions violated Chinese law as well as international law, and constituted a serious political and military provocation.

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

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PacificSentinel: Pot calls Kettle BLACK

News Report: ASEAN, China Expected to Endorse Initial Code of Conduct in South China Sea

Sok Khemara

After more than 15 years of intermittent talks, ASEAN member nations and China are expected to endorse the draft framework for a non-binding code of conduct that commits to cooperation rather than confrontations in the contested South China Sea, the Voice of America Khmer service has learned.

The draft framework is expected to be endorsed by ASEAN foreign ministers and China's foreign minister at the weeklong post-ministerial conference hosted by the Philippines, the current holder of ASEAN's revolving chairmanship. The meeting in Manila begins August 2.

A regional official who did not want to be named provided VOA Khmer with the draft framework of the code of conduct (COC), which would "establish rules-based framework containing a set of norms" to guide the conduct of parties and promote maritime cooperation in the South China Sea. The document is the outgrowth of talks called by China and held in May in Guiyang in Guizhou.

And while the draft framework is a move forward in a process that began in 2002, Tang Siew Mun, head of the ASEAN Studies Center at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said "this does not mean that the strategic trust gaps would narrow overnight."

Although the draft framework suggests that ASEAN and China can work together on a "sensitive issue," the draft framework is the first of many steps, Tang said, adding that the COC itself will take time to finalize, if it ever reaches that stage.

"The COC would only have meaning if it were legally binding, but it is unsure if the negotiating parties would be agreeable to a fair and just structure of managing relations in the South China Sea," Tang said.

The draft framework for the code of conduct calls for ASEAN members "to promote mutual trust, cooperation and confidence, prevent incidents, manage incidents should they occur, and create a favorable environment for the peaceful settlement of the disputes; to ensure maritime security and safety and freedom of navigation and overflight."

News Report: North Korea - US Strike Would Effectively ‘Ruin’ the ‘Empire of America’

North Korea's Hwasong-14 Ballistic Missile (File Photo)

North Korean state-run media has called out a high ranking member of the Trump administration for beating the war drums against Pyongyang.

Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Worker’s Party of Korea, headed by national leader Kim Jong-un, slammed Defense Secretary James “Mad Dog” Mattis as the "peerless bellicose element well known to be a 'war-maniac' and 'rabid dog' in the overseas aggression wars. 

"It is ridiculous, indeed, that such warmonger talked about 'non-military counteraction' and 'diplomatic solution.'"

In June, Mattis called the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) the "most urgent" national security threat to the US, writing in a statement to the House Armed Services Committee, "The regime’s nuclear weapons program is a clear and present danger to all, and the regime’s provocative actions, manifestly illegal under international law, have not abated despite United Nations’ censure and sanctions."

His comments followed the expansion of targeted sanctions leveled at Pyongyang by the UN Security Council, in response to the DPRK’s continued ballistic missile tests.

News Story: Putting law to work in the South China Sea

By Dindo Manhit

As far as the Philippines is concerned, it has been a quiet July for foreign policy. Although the one-year anniversary of The Hague ruling on the Philippine case against China has just passed, there have been too few events marking the occasion or even debating its significance. The Stratbase ADR Institute held a forum on this topic last week, but there is still plenty of room for us to talk about where our national priorities lay on this issue.

International law at work

While the Philippines has been relatively quiet, there continue to be interesting developments in the South China Sea. Throughout July, various news sources have reported that US aircraft and vessels have been challenging what China believes to be its waters in the South China Sea. These latest exchanges have come on top of the greatly publicized freedom of navigation operation that the US conducted in May around Mischief Reef. These developments appear to confirm that the Trump administration is not taking a softer approach on upholding the rules-based order.

Even more interesting is the decision by Indonesia to rename the waters in the northern part of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) the “North Natuna Sea.” This move is awfully familiar to our country—we did the same thing with the West Philippine Sea. This move was not welcomed by China: one foreign ministry spokesman said that the change “makes no sense at all.” China’s illegal nine-dash line is so expansive, it overlaps with that section of Indonesia’s EEZ, even more distant from China than the Spratly islands. Could we be seeing similar moves from ASEAN partners soon?

These decisions by other countries just go to show that international law still matters. This is an important point for that we can do more in the Philippines to appreciate.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: Chinese ships enter Japan waters north of Kyushu for 1st time

FUKUOKA (Kyodo) -- Two Chinese coast guard ships briefly entered Japanese waters Saturday around two islands off the southwestern main island of Kyushu, in the first confirmed entry by Chinese government vessels into the area, the Japan Coast Guard said.

Under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, vessels of every country have the right to sail through territorial seas as long as they do not harm the safety of the countries concerned.

The Japan Coast Guard requested the ships to exit from the territorial waters, though it has not made it clear whether it considered their presence an intrusion into territorial waters.

According to the coast guard, it was notified by the Defense Ministry that one Chinese coast guard ship entered territorial waters near the southern tip of Tsushima Island around 11:50 a.m.

The ship exited the waters around 12:20 p.m. after the coast guard called on the ship to leave by radio.

Read the full story at The Mainichi

News Story: Analyst - China diverting int'l pressure while completing facilities in disputed sea

By Patricia Lourdes Viray

MANILA, Philippines — Beijing appears to be engaging with Manila and other Southeast Asian governments to divert international pressure from the disputed South China Sea, a foreign policy analyst said.

A few weeks ago, Washington-based CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) released new satellite imagery that China has been continuing the construction of facilities in three Manila-claimed reefs in the Spratly Islands.

China appears to have installed new missile shelters, radar and communication facilities on Fire Cross Reef, Mischief Reef and Subi Reef despite starting direct negotiations with the Philippines last May.

Gregory Poling, director of the AMTI, said that the approach of the Duterte administration hasn't resulted in any slowdown in the construction of military facilities on the artificial islands.

"This suggests that Beijing wants to keep Manila and the other Southeast Asian governments talking, diverting international pressure, while it finishes its power projection capabilities without interference," Poling said in an exclusive interview with Philstar.com

Poling added that Beijing is determined to establish de facto control over all features within its so-called nine-dash line in the South China Sea.

Read the full story at PhilStar