China has no legal basis for its territorial claims in the South China Sea. The ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, an arm of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea…
The Philippines is cheering a ruling that China’s vast territorial claims in the South China Sea have no legal basis. But the ruling will also ratchet up military tensions with the U.S.
The principal consequence of Australia’s inevitable but little-debated decision to acquire submarines is to contribute to a rapidly escalating regional arms race.
Before European imperialism fatally undermined China’s own dynastic system, it was customary for China’s neighbours to acknowledge its dominance by sending tribute missions to the imperial court. While…
The defence white paper will pledge an additional $29.9 billion in defence spending over the coming decade and support for businesses to innovate in areas such as cyber security and aeronautics.
In the summer of 2007, in a bizarre incident shown live on Russian television, scientists accompanied by a couple of senior politicians descended 4,300 meters to the floor of the Arctic Ocean in two Mir…
By sailing a destroyer close to an artificial island in the South China Sea, the US is challenging China’s claim to the waterway. At stake are trade routes worth billions of dollars.
China’s not happy. Normally that sort of phrase is pretty meaningless. Clearly not everyone in China has the same view on anything – with the possible exception of its territorial claims in the South China…
For the past two centuries, Australia got many of the big calls on global engagement right. In our third century, there are worrying signs that we have not fully grasped what the rise of Asia means.
China’s construction of new islands in the South China Sea has attracted a great deal of entirely predictable criticism and controversy. Surely no-one connected with this decision can be surprised at this…
Regional changes will eventually raise questions about whether Australia’s defence needs can be met with a spending level of 2% of GDP, Defence Department secretary Dennis Richardson has said.
The US is considering using warships and helicopters to pressure China into scaling back construction in the Spratly islands. But why is there one rule for China, and another for other nations?
The US is considering naval patrols of disputed parts of the South China Sea in response to China’s creation of artificial islands. Other nations with claims may welcome a temporary US presence.
China’s island-building activities in the South China Sea play well to a nationalistic domestic audience and aim to reinforce its territorial and maritime claims in a potentially resource-rich area.