Verbal warnings, strongly worded statements and freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) – all seem to have fallen on deaf ears as Beijing continues its pursuit of militarising islands in the disputed South China Sea.Last week during Asia’s premier defence summit, the Shangri-La Dialogue, United States (US) Secretary of Defense, James Mattis called out China for their assertive actions.

The White House wants North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to commit to a timetable to surrender his country’s nuclear arsenal when he meets United States (US) President Donald Trump next week in Singapore, a high-stakes summit that could last as long as two days – or just minutes.Trump has been advised not to offer Kim any concessions, as the White House seeks to put the onus on the North Koreans to make the summit a success, one US official said.

Located on the greater New Guinea Island, West Papua is neighbour to the sovereign state of Papua New Guinea. Formerly known as Irian Jaya, it was annexed by Indonesia in 1963, a move formalised six years later with a widely discredited vote known as the Act of Free Choice, which was supervised by the United Nations (UN). Only 1,063 people voted, most of whom were selected by the military and compelled to vote in favour of Indonesian annexation.

The concept of centrality has seen a resurgence in use during the past few days, featuring prominently in the speeches and comments made during the recently concluded Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD).

For many United States (US) allies, Secretary of Defense James Mattis is the last of the Trump administration’s so-called grownups in the room. At Asia’s main annual security forum he got a warm reception for his firm defense of the rules-based order the US helped to build after World War II.Increasingly, though, Mattis’s reassurance is not enough.

Just a few days before the 17th Congress of the Philippines went on break, history was made on 31 May when the Philippines senate unanimously approved the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law. Hours earlier, the House of Representatives approved its own version of the BBL bill with a 221 to 11 vote. The BBL seeks to establish a proposed new autonomous political entity known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, replacing the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

United States (US) Secretary of Defense James Mattis said the world would have to deal with China’s militarisation of the South China Sea for now, but that Beijing would face “larger consequences” in the long term that could persuade it to change track.Beijing’s deployments of missile batteries and bombers to outposts in disputed areas appear aimed at intimidating neighbours, Mattis told delegates on Saturday at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue in S

“The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was never an integration project but a sovereignty upholding project,” said Michael Vatikiotis, Regional Director for the Asia Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue at an ASEAN Roundtable held in Singapore last year.The comparison of ASEAN to the European Union (EU) is a thought exercise that many, would have no doubt contemplated for obvious reasons.

United States (US) Defense Secretary James Mattis described India as the “fulcrum’’ of security in the Indo-Pacific region as he traveled this week to an annual security conference in Singapore, attended for the first time by an Indian leader.But if Mattis was hoping that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would use the platform to join the US, Japan and Australia - a grouping known as the Quad - in a more muscular challenge to China’s regional expansion, he was disappointed.

The younger generation in Indonesia want their voices heard. And the chance to do so will come when they head to the polls - once this year for local elections and again in 2019 for legislative and Presidential elections which take place concurrently. Millennial voters remain a critical demography in Southeast Asia’s largest democracy. Since 2004, the youth voter bank – accounting for people between the ages of 17 and 25 – has increased from 18 to 30 percent.