The decision on China’s activities in the South China Sea undoubtedly represents a sweeping victory for the Philippines. It is, however, unenforceable.
Disputed: Taiping Island, in the South China Sea.
Office of the President of Taiwan
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…
Purportedly Chinese dredging vessels are building up land around Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea last year.
U.S. Navy via Reuters
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.
A fine line: the China-North Korea border.
Prince Roy via Wikimedia Commons
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…
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull presents the defence white paper at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
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.
The USS Roosevelt sails the South China Sea.
US Navy/Reuters
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…
US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter observes the destroyer USS Lassen in the South China Sea.
US Navy
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…
Australia’s traditional reliance on multilateralism and alliances won’t be enough to negotiate the geopolitical rivalries of the Asian century.
EPA/Barbara Walton
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…
Defence department secretary Dennis Richardson has described Australia’s relationship with the US and Chinas as friends with both, allies with one.
AAP/Lukas Coch
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.
A Chinese government image of soldiers on one of the built-up Spratly islands.
mod.gov.cn
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?
A Filipino soldier patrols the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The US is considering sending aircrafts and warships to patrol the disputed area, which is claimed by China and four other Southeast Asian countries.
EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGO / POOL
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.