The Philippines will not follow the United States (US) lead in blacklisting Chinese companies involved in the construction of artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea (SCS), the president's spokesman said Tuesday, arguing Manila needed Beijing's investment.Washington last week announced sanctions against 24 Chinese state-owned companies - including subsidiaries of China Communications Construction Co, which is involved in a US$10 billion airport project in Manila.The US ha

An American warship sailed near the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, the United States (US) Navy has said, challenging Beijing's claims on the resource-rich waterway and prompting a warning from the Chinese military.The Thursday operation came a day after China fired ballistic missiles into the sea as part of ongoing live-fire exercises, inflaming already high tensions between Washington and Beijing.The US regularly conducts "freedom of navigation operations" in

The confrontation between China and the West is escalating almost daily. The conflict is about technology, trade, global market share, and supply chains, but also about fundamental values. Underpinning this economic and ideological competition is the goal of global predominance in the 21st century. But why is the current escalation happening now? It is not as though the West suddenly had some epiphany about the implications of China’s rise.

In his most recent New Year’s speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that 2020 would be “a milestone.” Xi was right, but not in the way he expected. Far from having “friends in every corner of the world,” as he boasted in his speech, China has severely damaged its international reputation, alienated its partners, and left itself with only one real lever of power: brute force. Whether the prospect of isolation thwarts Xi’s imperialist ambitions, however, remains to be seen.

The Philippines accused China's coast guard Friday of illegally seizing fishing equipment near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, sparking a fresh spat with Beijing.Scarborough Shoal, one of several reefs controlled by China, is one of the region's richest fishing grounds and a flash point between the two countries.The Philippine foreign ministry said it has lodged a diplomatic protest over the "illegal confiscation" by the Chinese coast guard in May of floating devi

The Malaysian coast guard shot dead a Vietnamese fisherman whose boat tried to ram a patrol vessel in the South China Sea, an official said Monday.The incident took place inside Malaysian waters, where local fishermen have complained in the past about Vietnamese fishing boats that damage their nets.Coast guard chief Mohamad Zubil Mat Som told reporters that two Vietnamese fishing boats had entered Malaysian waters some 80 nautical miles from Tok Bali, off the north-eastern state of Kelantan l

It seems that instead of de-escalation, the bilateral relations between the world’s two largest economies has gone from bad to worse following the recent visit of Alex Azar, the United States (US) Secretary of Health and Human Services to Taiwan; the imposition of economic sanctions on the 11 current and former Chinese officials including Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam over the imposition of a new national security law in Hong Kong; Washington’s banning of the Chinese social media app

Observers of United States (US)-China relations increasingly talk of a new cold war. On top of a long-running trade war, the two countries now find themselves in a destructive cycle of mutual sanctions, consulate closings, and increasingly bellicose official speeches. Efforts to decouple the US economy from China’s are underway as tensions mount in both, the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. A cold war between the US and China would leave both countries and the world worse off.

On 3 August, President Duterte issued a directive disallowing the Philippines from joining naval/maritime exercises and drills of other countries like the United States (US) in the South China Sea (SCS) to reduce tensions in the disputed waters.

In his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 27 July, President Rodrigo Duterte stated that, “Within ASEAN and beyond, the Philippines will continue to work with partners to address global perils and ramp up cooperation to secure for our peoples, greater peace, progress, and prosperity. The Filipino nation claims its rightful place in the community of sovereign states.