News Story: Chinese ships sail near disputed islands with Japan

Chinese coast guard vessels sailed near disputed islands claimed by Japan and China in the East China Sea on Monday, marking the second such incident in less than a week.

The four ships entered the waters surrounding the island chain, controlled by Japan and known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in China, at around 10:00 am (0100 GMT) and were moving in a southwest direction, according to the Japanese coast guard.

An online statement from China's State Oceanic Administration only said the four Chinese coast guard vessels were "patrolling in Chinese waters off the Diaoyu Islands."

Japan's coast guard said it was the second time since Thursday that four Chinese ships had entered its waters.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

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: Australia Positioning to Help US Check China’s Maritime Expansion

Royal Australian Navy Ships leave Sydney for Exercises

Ralph Jennings

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Australia, concerned about its vast regional trade network, is joining Japan, India and the United States in countering Chinese expansion in Asia’s biggest maritime dispute.

Six Australian warships were moving toward the South China Sea this week, with no publicized destination, for military exercises. Australian media has called the mission their country’s largest in 30 years.

“There is certainly a view in some quarters in Australia that one of Australia’s contributions to diplomacy and international affairs in Asia is as a security player,” said Jeffrey Wilson, a fellow with the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University in Perth. “We have a very small defense force, but very high tech, high capacity.”

Australia’s leaders want their electorate, as well as its Asian neighbors, to see Canberra as a defender of rule of law in the South China Sea, consistent with its role since the Cold War, analysts say.

The Australian Department of Defense says that by 2021 it will raise the military budget to 2 percent of GDP, one of the fastest-growing in the Asia Pacific. The budget is $27.4 billion for 2017-2018.

News Report: Not All See China’s Great Power Diplomacy as Huge Success

Chinese President Xi Jinping

William Ide

BEIJING — Analysts say China’s foreign policy achievements are likely to be a key focus next month when the Communist Party hosts a crucial once-in-five-year leadership meeting. But don’t expect China’s leaders to say much about the challenges and setbacks they’ve faced since Xi Jinping came to power, even though a growing number of some scholars here are doing just that.

Since Xi began assuming leadership in China in 2012, the world’s second largest economy has been rapidly expanding its global footprint and influence. Beijing is engaging and seeking to play a more prominent role in international affairs, while laying out its own initiatives, such as the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank and the near trillion-dollar trade program, the Belt and Road.

Xi has visited nearly 30 countries, five continents and championed what some here call “Great Power Diplomacy." He has also been advocating what he calls the “China Solution,” Beijing’s proposals and answers to the world’s toughest problems.

The foreign policy focus is so important that some analysts say China’s need to play a more central role in global affairs is likely to be added to the communist party’s constitution during the meeting, along with other changes.

State media recently released a six-party series ahead of the 19th Party Congress on “Great Power Diplomacy.” Advocates of that idea, argue that as a rising great power, China should do what it feels is right anytime and whenever it wishes.

News Report: India, Japan Expected to Increase Maritime Activity Aimed at China

Ralph Jennings

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — India and Japan, anxious to keep Asia’s dominant power Beijing in check, may send patrols into the contested South China Sea or sell arms to rival states following a pair of high-level meetings this month, experts say.

Both Asian countries could sell or donate more weapons to China’s rival maritime claimants, such as Vietnam, so they can build a defense against Beijing. Japan may also use coast guard or naval ships to patrol the sea to show it’s open despite China’s claim to some 90 percent of it.

India will probably continue joint exploration with Vietnam for oil and gas under the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea, analysts say.

“Delhi and Tokyo have both been stepping up their capacity-building efforts in the region, with Japan focused mainly on providing patrol vessels and training for Southeast Asian states and India selling arms to and training the Vietnamese navy,” said Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative of the American think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

News Report: Festering Maritime Hostilities Push China-Vietnam Relations to New Low

Ralph Jennings

TAIPEI — A rash of incidents since May is threatening to reignite hostilities between neighbors China and Vietnam over control of the contested South China Sea, but Vietnam is seen suppressing its anger in the short term for lack of broader support.

The foreign ministry in Hanoi protested last week against Beijing’s announcement of a military drill in the Gulf of Tonkin. That exchange came after China apparently pressured Vietnam and Spanish contractor Repsol to stop a multi-million-dollar offshore oil exploration project in another part of the South China Sea in late July.

In July, pro-China maritime activists apparently hacked airline computers at two Vietnam airports. China and Vietnam called off a meeting of foreign ministers at a regional event in Manila last month. In June a Chinese military official cut short a visit to Vietnam, a move analysts call a protest over Vietnam’s offshore fuel exploration.

“There’s been a string of setbacks. So (Vietnam) is showing you it’s testy,” said Carl Thayer, Southeast Asia-specialized emeritus professor at The University of New South Wales in Australia.

“I think also for Vietnam anti-China sentiment is so toxic that if the government were to face a situation in South China Sea and be perceived by the Vietnamese public as not defending Vietnamese sovereignty, they’d be in real trouble,” Thayer said.

News Story: ‘OK being soft with China if sea dispute resolved’

By Helen Flores

BUSAN – The Duterte administration would rather endure criticisms of being too soft on China than sacrifice its push for a peaceful resolution of competing claims over the South China Sea, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said yesterday.

“We can continue to fight for our rights without armed conflict or without escalating the arguments. So every now and then there are irritants and there are real issues and we’re taking the diplomatic action, but it doesn’t mean that we confront each other in front of the media each and every time because it doesn’t create the atmosphere of dialogue, but it also doesn’t mean that the government is giving up our rights or is not fighting for it,” Cayetano told The STAR.

Cayetano attended the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) meeting held at Nurimaru APEC House here.

The secretary maintained the administration is not changing its strategy on the South China Sea disputes, which he claimed is already “bearing fruits.”

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: Esperon denies Chinese occupation of Sandy Cay

By Alexis Romero

MANILA, Philippines — National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. yesterday denied that China has occupied the Sandy Cay off Pagasa Island in the West Philippine Sea and stressed that the government would not give up an inch of the areas claimed by the Philippines.

Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Saturday bared that China has virtually occupied Sandy Cay, an area situated around 2.5 nautical miles off Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine Sea.

Two frigates, a Chinese coast guard vessel and two military fishing boats were reportedly seen in the area. 

Carpio urged the Duterte administration to “vigorously protest” what he described as an “invasion” of Philippine territory by China. 

Esperon admitted that foreign fishing boats were seen in the Sandy Cay, but denied that China has seized the Sandy Cay.

“China has not seized sand bars in Pagasa Atoll,” Esperon said in a text message.

“There should be no alarm on that as long as they don’t occupy any of the sandbars. There are many Chinese as well as Vietnamese fishing boats in and near Pagasa Island and its nearby sandbars, collectively called Pagasa Atoll,” he added. 

Esperon said the Chinese ships came “too near” the Sandy Cay but did not seize it. He also maintained that the government would continue to assert the country’s maritime claims.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: Carpio - China virtually occupying Sandy Cay

By Evelyn Macairan

MANILA, Philippines - Supreme Court (SC) Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio yesterday expressed belief that China is breaking its vow not to occupy any more islands in the Spratlys area because it is allegedly virtually occupying a new geological feature called Sandy Cay in the West Philippine Sea.

In a statement, Carpio said China is guarding Sandy Cay located some 2.5 nautical miles off Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine Sea and well within Pag-asa’s 12 nautical miles territorial waters.

It reportedly has two frigates, a coast guard vessel and two military fishing boats around Sandy Cay.

“Sandy Cay is a Philippine land territory that is being seized – to put it mildly – or being invaded – to put it frankly – by China,” said Carpio.

He urged President Duterte and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano to defend and protect the country’s territory since they have both “vowed to the Filipino people that they will not concede a single inch of Philippine territory to China.”

“The very least that they could do now is to vigorously protest this invasion of Philippine territory by China.”

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: Japan, US to affirm robust alliance, pressure on N. Korea

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- Japan and the United States are set to hold security talks Thursday at which they are likely to agree to increase pressure on North Korea and affirm a closer bilateral alliance as Pyongyang appears to be moving rapidly toward acquiring the capability to deliver nuclear strikes on Washington or New York.

In what will be the first "two-plus-two" meeting of their foreign and defense ministers in two years -- and the first since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January -- the two allies are also expected to seek to contain China's assertive territorial claims in the East and South China seas.

The four ministers' meeting in Washington comes after North Korea test-launched two intercontinental ballistic missiles last month and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency reportedly assessed that North Korea could field a reliable nuclear-capable ICBM as early as next year -- two years earlier than previously estimated.

On Wednesday, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera met with Trump's national security adviser H.R. McMaster and affirmed close bilateral coordination so as to be prepared for any contingency involving North Korea, according to Onodera.

Referring to Thursday's talks, Onodera said earlier, "As we exchange opinions on a range of issues such as North Korea, the South China Sea and the East China Sea, we would like to further strengthen the alliance between Japan and the United States."

Onodera told reporters Tuesday that he would like to discuss measures to boost deterrence and response capabilities of the alliance, a security arrangement the two countries have called the "cornerstone" of peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

The meeting brings together Onodera and Kono, who took up their respective positions in a Cabinet reshuffle on Aug. 3, as well as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

Read the full story at The Mainichi

News Story: China May be Finished with Island-Building Campaign

China's Artificial Island built on Fiery Cross Reef

On Tuesday, Philippines defense minister Delfin Lorenzana announced that Manila has reached an understanding with Beijing about Chinese expansion in the South China Sea, and that China has promised not to seize any additional land features in the region. "The Chinese will not occupy new features in the South China Sea nor they are going to build structures in Scarborough Shoal," he told a congressional hearing.

China has built a string of seven artificial islands in the Spratly chain, all of them on land features claimed by the Philippines and other nations. The government of former Philippine president Benigno Aquino opposed Chinese expansion in the region, but under the current leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte, Manila has downplayed the dispute in favor of strengthening economic ties.

Also on Tuesday, foreign secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said that the Philippines is pursuing an oil and gas exploration agreement with China in disputed parts of the South China Sea, with revenues to be split 60/40 in favor of the Philippines. Last week, Cayetano admitted that there could be sovereignty issues for a partnership with China in contested waters, noting that the joint venture would have to be within a framework that would be consistent with the Philippine constitution.

Read the full story at MarEx

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: ‘China using ECRL project to gain Malaysia’s favour in region’

Report cites mainland Chinese observers as saying that Beijing wants Malaysia not to incline towards the US as Singapore assumes Asean chairmanship next year.

PETALING JAYA: China is leveraging on its East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project to gain Malaysia’s support, in an effort to counterpoise its strained relations with the US and other countries in Southeast Asia, Chinese political commentators were quoted as saying today.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that the 688 km line – planned to connect Gombak in Selangor to Kota Bharu in Kelantan with a travel time of less than four hours – has prompted speculation that it could alter current regional trade routes through the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea via Singapore when it is completed in 2024.

“Since Singapore will be the chair of Asean next year, mainland Chinese observers said Beijing would be trying to ensure that Kuala Lumpur did not also pivot towards the US,” the report said.

It quoted Ni Lexiong, a naval expert at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, as saying that the recent cooperation between China and Malaysia signalled Beijing’s desire to reduce Singapore’s influence.

“At the moment, 70% of China’s oil and gas imports pass through the Straits of Malacca,” Ni said.

“Because of that, Singapore has been able to control China’s commercial and military access through the strait, and has used this as leverage in its balancing act between China and the US.”

The report also cited Xu Liping, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, as saying that Malaysia had in recent years become one of China’s closest partners in the region.

Read the full story at Free Malaysia Today

News Report: Can Proposed Code of Conduct in S China Sea Help Resolve Sovereignty Disputes?

South Asia and China need to adopt a legally binding code of conduct in the South China Sea, according to the foreign ministers of Australia, Japan and the United States in a statement following the recent ASEAN meetings held in Manila. Sputnik spoke with an expert, Carl Thayer, about this issue.

The ministers stated that ASEAN countries and China must refrain from taking any unilateral actions that could undermine the existing state of affairs and lead to increased tensions in the South China Sea.

They also called on the countries to avoid land reclamation and any further construction of outposts in the sea.

Radio Sputnik talked to Dr. Carl Thayer, an emeritus professor of the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defense Force Academy, about this proposed code of conduct and its effect on the situation in the region.

“ASEAN and China have just agreed to a framework for that code. They set out a timetable, that they will approve it and further it in August and commence consultations in November to draw up the code of conduct,” Thayer said.

News Report: Philippines Not Concerned by US Operation Near Spratly Islands - Spokesman

Manila does not object to the presence of the USS John S. McCain guided missile destroyer near the disputed Spratly Islands as the US operation was conducted in accordance with "freedom of navigation," presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Thursday, the USS John S. McCain sailed within 12 nautical 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. The Chinese Defense Ministry in response urged the United States to immediately cease all provocative activities in the South China Sea, as they impede bilateral relations and mutual trust between the armed forces of the two countries.

News Story: China resolutely opposes U.S. provocation in South China Sea: spokesperson

USS John S. McCain conducted a freedom of navigation operation
around China's Artificial Island built on Mischief Reef

BEIJING, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Defense Ministry strongly objects to the illegal entry of a U.S. warship into China's waters off the Nansha Islands, said a ministry spokesperson Friday.

Wu Qian said in a statement that missile frigates Huaibei and Fushun of the Chinese Navy were immediately sent to identify the U.S. warship, warn and expel it.

The USS John S. McCain illegally entered the waters near the reef in South China Sea earlier on Thursday. China has sovereignty of the Nansha Islands and its adjacent waters.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: ‘ASEAN under pressure on Souht China Sea issue’

By Pia Lee-Brago

MANILA, Philippines - The United States yesterday acknowledged that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was under “tremendous” pressure on the South China Sea issue.

Heather Nauert, spokesperson for the US Department of State, said ASEAN still “held on to its principles” by defeating attempts to drop “militarization,” self-restraint” and “land reclamation” from the joint communiqué at the end of the meeting in Manila.

“So the ASEAN foreign ministers’ joint communiqué, which came out at the end of the forum, contains language on the South China Sea, and that reflects ASEAN’s important role in strengthening the rules-based order that benefits all nations, both large and small,” Nauert said in a press briefing in Washington.


The US welcomed the ASEAN foreign ministers’ reaffirmation of the importance of freedom of navigation, noting that the US shared their concerns over developments that Washington considered to be “unconducive” to regional stability, such as land reclamation.


“ASEAN was under tremendous pressure, but still held on to its principles,” she stressed.


Nauert added ASEAN also stressed the importance of exercising self-restraint, including refraining from militarization of features in the South China Sea. 


The US reiterated that the July 16 arbitral ruling is binding on China and the Philippines.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Report: Chinese Defense Ministry Calls on US to Stop Provocations in South China Sea

The Chinese government urges the United States to immediately stop provocative activities in the South China Sea, which impede bilateral relations and mutual trust between the armed forces of the two countries, the Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement Thursday.

BEIJING (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, US guided missile destroyer USS John S. McCain sailed within six miles from the man-made Mischief Reef in the Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea, during a "freedom of navigation exercise" in the disputed region.

"We urge the United States to immediately correct its wrongdoing and stop provocations under the pretext of so-called 'freedom of navigation'," the Chinese Defense Ministry said.

The ministry stressed in the statement that the provocative actions of the US armed forces would only push the Chinese army to increasing its defense capability in order to ensure sovereignty and safety.

News Story: China accuses Japan of meddling in South China Sea issue - FM spokesperson

BEIJING, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to Japan's defense white paper for 2017, saying Japan has made irresponsible remarks about China's marine activities.

In the white paper of more than 560 pages, Japan devoted 34 pages to unjustified criticism of China's normal defense construction and military activities.

Japan claimed in its defense white paper that "China has tried to change the status quo in the East China Sea and South China Sea based on its own assertions, and this has become a common concern of the region and the world at large."

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang accused Japan of meddling in the South China Sea issue, saying China has lodged solemn representations to the Japanese side.

Geng reaffirmed that the will of the Chinese government to safeguard national sovereignty and maritime rights and interests is firm.

He said conducting patrol and law-enforcement activities in waters off the Diaoyu Islands is China's inherent right and Japan is in no position to point fingers at those activities.

The Chinese side, carrying out normal sea and air activities in accordance with international law, relevant domestic laws and regulations as well as national defense needs, is beyond reproach, he said.

Read the full story at Xinhua