South China Sea NewsWire
The aggregator service for balanced and insightful news
Diplomacy
China’s Claim on the South China Sea: How Many Dashes Make a Line?
6 September, 2023
China’s recent release of a new “standard” map of the South China Sea by the Ministry of Natural Resources has provoked some negative reactions from China’s neighbors. The map, which was released on 28 August, included a dashed line encircling large parts of the South China Sea.
Security
Philippines, US navies hold South China Sea sail
4 September, 2023
Naval vessels from the Philippines and United States conducted a joint sail through areas of the South China Sea within the Southeast Asian nation’s exclusive economic zone, the Philippine military said on Monday. It was the first time Manila and Washington carried out a joint sail in waters west of Palawan island, the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Western Command said in a statement.
Diplomacy
Vietnam Opposes New China Map Claiming South China Sea Islands
31 August, 2023
Vietnam said China’s official map released this week violates its sovereignty over the Spratly and Paracel Islands and jurisdiction over its waters, according to a statement posted on the nation’s government news website. China’s sovereignty and maritime claims based on the nine-dotted line on the map are “invalid,” said the statement.
Diplomacy
Indonesia’s ‘significant’ South China Sea comments not a sign of ‘nascent alliance’ with US
31 August, 2023
Indonesia’s joint statement with the US on the South China Sea is seen as a move to increase support for Southeast Asian claimants, analysts say. The ‘important and necessary’ statement is also a significant shift from Indonesia’s previous neutral stance on the territorial dispute.
Security
US given OK to enforce maritime law around Palau as Washington vies with China for Pacific influence
29 August, 2023
The United States has signed a new agreement with Palau, which gives Coast Guard ships the authorization to unilaterally enforce maritime regulations in the tiny Pacific island nation’s exclusive economic zone.
Diplomacy
China warns of external influence ahead of South China Sea code of conduct talks
20 August, 2023
Beijing is willing to speed up talks with ASEAN on a long-delayed South China Sea code of conduct, the Chinese foreign minister said on the weekend while warning against external interference in the region.
Business
ONGC Videsh secures 3-year extension for Vietnamese oil block in South China Sea
20 August, 2023
India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) has secured another three-year extension to explore oil and gas in a Vietnamese block in the contested waters of the South China Sea. This is the eighth extension for OVL, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).
Security
U.S., Japan and Australia to hold joint drills as tensions rise in South China Sea
18 August, 2023
The U.S., Japan and Australia will hold joint naval drills on Wednesday as tensions rise in the South China Sea. Japan’s defense ministry has scrambled fighter jets in response to two Russian spy planes that it has identified flying back and forth between the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, as well as Russian and Chinese warships conducting joint maritime patrols in the Pacific Ocean.
Diplomacy
US, Japan and South Korea to deepen security ties to deter China
16 August, 2023
The US, Japan and South Korea are set to create a leader-level hotline and hold annual joint military exercises as part of a historic trilateral agreement to help Washington and its Asian allies boost deterrence against North Korea and China. The leaders will unveil a broad set of “Camp David principles” as well as a document laying out co-operation on security.
Business
Philippines told to start drilling oil at Reed Bank amid rising tensions
15 August, 2023
A former Philippines Supreme Court justice on Tuesday renewed his call for the Philippines to start oil exploration at Reed Bank in the South China Sea in an area of almost 9,000 square kilometers amid China’s alleged muscle-flexing.
Security
US and China spar over Philippine shipwreck-turned-military outpost
9 August, 2023
The South China Sea remains a serious potential flashpoint between China and Southeast Asian countries. The Philippines President, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., is now increasingly accusing China of aggression.
Security
Philippines says China used a water-cannon on boat in South China Sea
6 August, 2023
The Philippines has accused China’s coastguard of using a water cannon to block a Philippine military supply boat in the South China Sea. The confrontation occurred near the Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef where a handful of its troops live on a rusty World War II-era ship that was intentionally grounded in 1999.
Diplomacy
Philippine Senate Passes Resolution Condemning Beijing’s South China Sea ‘Incursions’
2 August, 2023
The Philippine Senate has unanimously voted unanimously to adopt a resolution condemning China for its “continued harassment” of Filipino fishermen and “incursions” into Philippine-claimed waters in the contested South China Sea. The resolution also urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to take appropriate action in asserting and securing the country’s sovereign rights, initially through dialogue with Beijing.
Security
China Is Testing How Hard It Can Push in the South China Sea Before Someone Pushes Back
1 August, 2023
Experts say China is trying to provoke a military response from opposing claimants in the South China Sea, but so far none of the nations involved have militarily engaged with China over the issue. China is also trying to avoid becoming the first one to fire a shot.
Analysis
Commentary
Podcasts
Videos
Conferences
Recommended Books
China’s ‘blue dragon’ strategy in the Indo-Pacific | The Strategist
China is advancing its ‘blue dragon’ strategy to compete with the US and undermine President Joe Biden’s Indo-Pacific policy. The plan targets three bodies of water in the Indo-Pacific region and major river systems in Southeast and South Asia. Despite Washington’s public denial of a containment policy against China, the US continues its global spy operations and has increased its defensive military posture in the Indo-Pacific.
The Case for Joint Patrols in the South China Sea | Geopolitical Monitor
Philippines-China relations are deteriorating with every passing month, and the October 22 collisions attest to that. The incidents can either be viewed as proof that the Philippines urgently needs diplomacy with China or, perhaps, to begin employing “diplomacy by other means.” Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. has lost all hope in the former option, saying that Beijing’s diplomatic outreach to Manila is “all for a show”; instead, he favors consulting with allies and partners to conduct multilateral joint patrols in the West Philippine Sea with the hope of altering Chinese behavior.
This episode of the Ke Kumu podcast by the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies features Dr. Alexander Vuving, who discusses conflicts in the South China Sea.
This episode of Asia Unscripted from the US-Asia Institute features James Borton and Rodger Baker, the co-authors of the South China Sea Maritime Survey, a survey that aims to “underscore the urgency to examine the benefits and prospects of science-led initiatives in light of the unfolding climate and ecological changes occurring in the region.”
Philippine Coast Guard releases video of sea collisions
CSIS hosts Thirteenth Annual South China Sea Conference
Asian Territorial and Maritime Disputes: A Critical Introduction by Moises de Souza, Gregory Coutaz, and Dean Karalekas This volume is designed to be a practical, yet critical, introduction to the main maritime and territorial disputes in the Indo-Pacific region. With a team of contributors made up of both senior and early-career scholars, diplomats, and legal specialists, the book provides a wide range of insights that go beyond what is provided in the media.
Dispatches from the South China Sea: Navigating to Common Ground by James Borton This book’s blend of participatory research and field reportage paves the way for a transformation of policy and provides a basis for the eventual resolution of some of today’s major maritime conflicts.
On Dangerous Ground: America’s Century in the South China Sea by Gregory Poling The author’s weeping and comprehensive understanding of America policy offers insightful understanding of all the various claimant nations issues in the contested waters since the nineteenth century.
Each month, South China Sea NewsWire identifies and features the most crucial articles on political, economic, and other developments in the South China Sea and surrounding regions. We provide top-level summaries of articles for easy access to selected news, conferences, podcasts, videos and integrated media. We offer a reading experience that favors discovery over opinion. South China Sea NewsWire is powered by article data from the Perigon News API. Perigon’s AI-enriched technology provides structured, intelligently classified news data in real time from over 80,000 global sources.
