The Philippine military ordered the deployment of more navy ships to the South China Sea Thursday amid a growing diplomatic row over a fleet of Chinese boats parked near a disputed reef.China claims almost the entirety of the resource-rich sea, and was accused by the United States (US) this week of efforts to "intimidate and provoke others" by parking its vessels near Whitsun Reef.Manila has ordered Beijing to recall 183 boats at the boomerang-shaped reef around 320 kilometres (175

The deployment of 220 Chinese vessels to the Julian Felipe Reef (aka Whitsun Reef), which lies in the Spratly Islands, well within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), has once again alerted Southeast Asian nations to China’s ever-growing assertiveness in the South China Sea (SCS).Criticising this unilateral, aggressive act, Delfin Lorenzana, Philippine Defense Minister called on the Chinese ships to back off, claiming that they are violating his nation’s

The Philippines on Sunday accused China of "incursion" after more than 200 militia boats were spotted near a disputed reef in the South China Sea, in a rare rebuke of its superpower neighbour.The Philippine coast guard detected the boats "in line formation" at the boomerang-shaped Whitsun Reef around 320 kilometres (175 nautical miles) west of Palawan Island on 7 March."We call on the Chinese to stop this incursion and immediately recall these boats violating our mari

Russia has offered to share its Sputnik V vaccine production technical know-how with Malaysia, according to reports by local media in the ASEAN member state.

Chinese factories torched as mainland workers hunker down under martial law - Beijing is being pulled into the ulcerous crisis in Myanmar, an unravelling country it had carefully stitched into its big plans for Asia.During a January 2020 visit to Myanmar, Chinese President Xi Jinping elevated the Southeast Asian neighbour to "country of shared destiny" status, Beijing's highest diplomatic stripe.The aim was to nudge Myanmar decisively towards China - and away from the United St

Ever since Alibaba founder Jack Ma criticised Chinese financial regulation in a speech last October, a regulatory storm has pummelled the country’s entire online financial and consumer sector.

Beijing has reopened its borders to certain travellers from the Philippines who have been inoculated with a Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccine, its embassy in Manila said Monday.China has been shut off to most foreigners since last March after the coronavirus exploded beyond its borders, triggering lockdowns and bringing international travel to a grinding halt.The decision to relax restrictions for travellers in the Philippines seeking visas for business or family reasons comes after a similar ann

China is no longer compliant with Hong Kong's joint declaration after Beijing announced sweeping changes to the region's electoral system, Britain said Saturday. "The UK now considers Beijing to be in a state of ongoing non-compliance with the Sino-British Joint Declaration," the foreign ministry said in a statement.The treaty was signed before Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997 and was designed to allay fears about its future under Beijing's rule

India will produce more than one billion more COVID vaccine doses by the end of next year in an initiative launched Friday with the United States (US), Japan and Australia, challenging China as the four leaders held their first-ever joint summit.US President Joe Biden, who has vowed to reinvigorate alliances in the face of growing worries about China, met virtually with the three nations' prime ministers as they pledged together to defend a "free and open" Indo-Pacific region.&

As countries scramble to secure COVID-19 vaccines, ugly expressions like “vaccine race” and “vaccine apartheid” have entered the global lexicon.