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by Andrew BEATTY Nicholas PERRY VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — US President Barack Obama warned Beijing Thursday it could not ignore a tribunal’s ruling rejecting its sweeping claims to the South China Sea, driving tensions higher in a territorial row that threatens regional security. The dispute has raised fears of military confrontation between the world’s superpowers, with China determined to cement control of the strategically vital waters despite a July verdict that its claims have no […]
VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — US President Barack Obama warned Thursday an international tribunal’s ruling that China’s sweeping claims to the South China Sea had no legal basis was “binding”, after Beijing vowed to ignore the verdict. “The landmark arbitration ruling in July, which is binding, helped clarify maritime rights in the region,” Obama told a summit of Asian leaders in Laos. The comments are sure to draw ire from Beijing, which has taken an increasingly […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia’s anti-drugs chief has supported implementing a bloody crackdown on traffickers like the war on crime in the Philippines that has left almost 3,000 dead. Budi Waseso, the tough-talking anti-drugs czar who once proposed holding death row traffickers on a prison island guarded by crocodiles, said he believed such a campaign would safeguard “our beloved country”. Indonesia says it is fighting a war against rising narcotics use. It has stepped up executions […]
* Chinese coast guard involved in two-thirds of incidents – CSIS * Coast guards not covered by expanding communications agreements * China now has largest coast guard fleet in the world (Adds Chinese Foreign Ministry comment) By Greg Torode HONG KONG, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Increasingly assertive action by China’s coast guard ships in the South China Sea risks destabilising the region, according to the authors of new research tracking maritime law enforcement […]
by Karl MALAKUNAS VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — The Philippines said China Wednesday of secretly preparing to build an artificial island on Scarborough Shoal, a tiny and remote outpost in a contested area of the South China Sea. Doing so risks a military confrontation between China and the United States. Here are five key questions and answers about the shoal and why it is so important. What is it? A small ring of reefs that lie […]
VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — Japan is “seriously concerned” about Beijing’s increasingly muscular claims in the South China Sea, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Asian leaders Wednesday. Beijing insists it has sovereign rights to almost all of the strategically vital waters, where the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims. It also has a simmering territorial row with Tokyo over disputed islands in the East China Sea. “I am seriously concerned with the continuing […]
(REUTERS) U.S. President Barack Obama and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte shook hands and had a brief chat on Wednesday, officials said, easing a standoff after Duterte called Obama a “son of a bitch” ahead of a summit of Asian leaders in Laos. The presidents of the two longtime allies were due to hold talks on Tuesday but the White House canceled the meeting after Duterte’s insult. “I’m very happy that it happened,” Philippines’ foreign […]
by Martin Abbugao and Karl Malakunas VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — Beijing came under pressure at an Asian summit Wednesday over its “illegal” island-building in the South China Sea, after the Philippines produced photos it said showed fresh construction activity at a flashpoint shoal. Any artificial island at Scarborough Shoal could be a game-changer in China’s quest to control the South China Sea and raises the risk of armed confrontation with the United States, security […]
Beijing’s “illegal” island building in the South China Sea moves centre stage at an Asian summit after the Philippines produces evidence it says shows fresh construction activity at a flashpoint shoal. Video courtesy Agence France Press TV
VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — The disputed South China Sea was in focus Wednesday at a regional summit in Laos, the first such gathering since an international court said Beijing’s artificial island building program there was “illegal”. China claims most of the sea, even waters approaching neighbouring countries, based on a vaguely defined “nine-dash-line” found on Chinese maps from the 1940s. The Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations dispute this claim. Commentators say the 3 million […]
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — The United States is giving the Philippines two used military aircraft, the coast guard said Wednesday, to help Manila expand sea patrols in the face of territorial disputes with China. The two Sherpa 30-seater aircraft will be delivered in December, Philippine coast guard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo told AFP. “It will help us in the movements of the Philippine Coast Guard like patrol missions,” Balilo added. The announcement came days after […]
VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — The Philippines released photos Wednesday to back its claims that China had secretly begun work to cement control over a crucial shoal in the hotly contested South China Sea. The release of the images, which claimed to show Chinese ships preparing to build an artificial island on Scarborough Shoal, came hours ahead of a meeting between Southeast Asian leaders and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Laos. China this week insisted it […]
