South China Sea

Philippines: Is The PCA Ruling A Paper Tiger?

The South China Sea (SCS) dispute is one of the many inter-state issues that challenge the resolve of the Philippines’ foreign policy of upholding peaceful coexistence and mutual respect with other claimant-states, especially China. This is in line with a peaceful and diplomatic resolution of the dispute based on the Philippines’ commitment to international law, regional stability, and peaceful co-existence with its neighbours, without compromising the integrity of its national terri

16 May 2021
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Megaphone Diplomacy And The South China Sea

The South China Sea (SCS), one of the most in-demand waterways in the world, is the object of contention of several claimant-states with overlapping territorial and maritime sovereignty and sovereign rights claims over its disputed waters. The said dispute is still unresolved until today and can be dated back to the 1950s.

9 May 2021
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Philippines' Top Diplomat Swears At China Online

The Philippines' top diplomat unambiguously told Beijing where to go on Monday, as the government insisted Chinese vessels were still illegally lingering in the disputed South China Sea."China, my friend, how politely can I put it? Let me see... O...

4 May 2021
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Sino-Philippines Ties Under Duterte

Philippines and China have long shared histories, kinships, and cultural affinities, which could be traced back to pre-colonial times in the Philippines, meaning before the Spanish colonisation.

25 April 2021
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Duterte Prepared To Deploy Navy Over SCS Claim

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he is willing to deploy military ships to the South China Sea to assert the country's claim over oil deposits in a contested part of the waterway.Duterte, who has embraced China since taking power in 2016, has faced growing domestic criticism for his reluctance to confront Beijing over its activities in Philippine-claimed waters. Tensions spiked last month after hundreds of Chinese vessels were detected at Whitsun Reef in the Spratly Isl

21 April 2021
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Philippine-China Relations Under Siege 2.0

Time and again, the deceptive and misleading “Chinese Threat” rhetoric has been hyped-up by the political detractors of the Duterte administration and by some mainstream media outlets; capitalising on the current skirmish in the South China Sea (SCS) involving the alleged more than 200 Chinese fishing vessels spotted in the Whitsun Reef or commonly known to Filipinos as the Julian Felipe Reef. One of the obvious reasons is to discredit President Rodrigo Duterte’s “rapprochement” poli

18 April 2021
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Duterte Urged To Face Chinese ‘Bullying’ In SCS

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte must end his “policy of subservience” towards Beijing, lawmakers and foreign policy experts have said, warning that the Filipino leader’s silence is sending the wrong signal as hundreds of Chinese “maritime militia” vessels continue to congregate within Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea.While several Filipino officials, including the country’s top diplomat and the defence chief, have openly demanded that the Ch

16 April 2021
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China’s Little Blue Men Are Taking Over The SCS

They've been dubbed China's "Little Blue Men," an allegedly Beijing-controlled maritime militia that analysts say could be hundreds of boats and thousands of crew members strong.China doesn't acknowledge their existence and when questioned, refers to them as a "so-called maritime militia."But Western experts say the alleged militia is an integral part of Beijing's efforts to exert its territorial claims in the South China Sea and beyond.

13 April 2021
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Philippines Keeping Options Open On South China Sea

The Philippine defence department said Thursday it was keeping "all our options open" as a diplomatic row with Beijing grows over hundreds of Chinese vessels in the contested South China Sea.Tensions over the resource-rich waters have spiked in recent weeks after more than 200 Chinese boats were detected at Whitsun Reef, in the Spratly Islands, where China and the Philippines have rival claims. China, which claims almost the entirety of the sea, has refused repeated appeals

9 April 2021
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US Warns China Over Moves On Philippines, Taiwan

The United States (US) on Wednesday warned China against what the Philippines and Taiwan see as increasingly aggressive moves, reminding Beijing of Washington's obligations to its partners."An armed attack against the Philippines' armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific, including in the South China Sea, will trigger our obligations under the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters."We share the concer

8 April 2021
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Philippines Tells China To ‘Get Out Of There’

The presence of Chinese vessels at a disputed reef off the Philippines could ignite “unwanted hostilities”, a top aide to President Rodrigo Duterte has warned, intensifying a diplomatic spat over the ships that Manila has described as “maritime militia”.More than 200 Chinese boats were first spotted on 7 March at Whitsun Reef, approximately 320 kilometres (175 nautical miles) west of Palawan Island within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).Most of them have since scattered across

6 April 2021
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