US Warns Putting China On Law Of The Sea Panel Like ‘Hiring An Arsonist’

US Warns Putting China On Law Of The Sea Panel Like ‘Hiring An Arsonist’
US Warns Putting China On Law Of The Sea Panel Like ‘Hiring An Arsonist’

In rejecting Chinese claims to the South China Sea, the Trump administration is in the opening throes of a rhetorical offensive, promising more concrete moves

Is The Arctic The Next South China Sea? Not Likely

Is The Arctic The Next South China Sea? Not Likely
Is The Arctic The Next South China Sea? Not Likely

WASHINGTON: Oil, gas, and minerals on the seabed. Disputed territorial claims. An increasingly aggressive China. Are we talking about the South China Sea or the Arctic Ocean? “As I look at what is playing out in the Arctic, it looks eerily familiar to what we’re seeing in the East and South China Sea,” Adm. Paul…

US Ships, Planes Challenge 22 Countries’ Claims — Not Just China’s

US Ships, Planes Challenge 22 Countries’ Claims — Not Just China’s
US Ships, Planes Challenge 22 Countries’ Claims — Not Just China’s

WASHINGTON: In 2016, the Defense Department flew aircraft or steamed ships through territories claimed by Albania, Brazil, Italy, Japan, Malta, and, well, China, according to the Pentagon’s annual report released today. So should Beijing be relieved it was not the sole focus of American Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPS) or should it feel slighted that it…

Chinese Ambassador Blasts South China Sea Tribunal

Chinese Ambassador Blasts South China Sea Tribunal
Chinese Ambassador Blasts South China Sea Tribunal

WASHINGTON: After a UN tribunal ruled stingingly against Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea, Beijing reacted with its characteristically prickly mix of grandiosity and insecurity. The official Chinese perspective inverts Washington’s worldview so thoroughly it can be hard for Americans to understand: International rules are rigged, US military presence is destabilizing, China rightfully…

Law Of The Sea: US In, China Out? Dems Push Ratification

Law Of The Sea: US In, China Out? Dems Push Ratification
Law Of The Sea: US In, China Out? Dems Push Ratification

WASHINGTON: Leading legislators from both parties welcomed today’s UN tribunal ruling against Chinese claims in the South China Sea. But while Republicans focused on China’s misdeeds, Democrats consistently brought up an American omission: The United States has never ratified the very treaty empowering the tribunal to stand up China, the UN Convention on the Law of…

Don’t Push China Too Hard After SCS Ruling

Don’t Push China Too Hard After SCS Ruling
Don’t Push China Too Hard After SCS Ruling

UPDATED with Chinese Ambassador, Sen. Sullivan, & CSIS conference WASHINGTON: “To a surrounded enemy, you must leave a way of escape,” Sun Tzu wrote 2,500 years ago. It’s a stratagem – often called the “golden bridge” – that the US and its allies would do well to remember tomorrow morning, when a UN tribunal will almost…

UN Ruling Won’t End South China Sea Dispute: Navy Studies Next Clash

UN Ruling Won’t End South China Sea Dispute: Navy Studies Next Clash
UN Ruling Won’t End South China Sea Dispute: Navy Studies Next Clash

A UN tribunal ruling could trigger the next round of brinksmanship in the South China Sea as early as next week. But don’t expect the ruling to end the dispute, especially since the Chinese have already vowed to ignore an adverse ruling. “It’s…not likely to be resolved this year or by one international ruling, no matter how brilliant…

McCain, Forbes Praise New Navy Challenge To China In Paracel Islands

McCain, Forbes Praise New Navy Challenge To China In Paracel Islands
McCain, Forbes Praise New Navy Challenge To China In Paracel Islands

[UPDATED with experts’ analysis; “innocent passage” confirmed] WASHINGTON: Just two days after the head of US Pacific Command, Adm. Harry Harris, pledged to push harder on Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea, the destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur sailed within the 12 nautical mile limit around Triton Island. Situated in the Paracels, which are claimed…

‘Absolute Nightmare’ As Chinese Destroy South China Reefs; Fish Stocks At Risk

‘Absolute Nightmare’ As Chinese Destroy South China Reefs; Fish Stocks At Risk
‘Absolute Nightmare’ As Chinese Destroy South China Reefs; Fish Stocks At Risk

UPDATED: Obama Calls On China To Halt Reclamation On Reefs WASHINGTON:  China is destroying swaths of coral reefs in one of the most important fisheries in Asia and causing enormous environmental damage as it builds the fake islands it is putting up in the South China Sea, To get some idea as to just how extensive China’s…

The Price of Delay:  US Navy To Challenge Chinese Claims

The Price of Delay:  US Navy To Challenge Chinese Claims
The Price of Delay: US Navy To Challenge Chinese Claims

UPDATED 9:45 am Tuesday with details of operation & Chinese response WASHINGTON: After five months of hints, declarations, mixed messages, and dithering, the US is reportedly set to challenge Chinese claims in the South China Sea. But the months of signaling will cost us. What might have been a low-key “freedom of navigation operation” — sailing,…

As Chinese Ships Cruise Arctic For First Time, Will U.S. Build New Icebreakers?

As Chinese Ships Cruise Arctic For First Time, Will U.S. Build New Icebreakers?
As Chinese Ships Cruise Arctic For First Time, Will U.S. Build New Icebreakers?

UPDATED: WITH WHITE HOUSE STATEMENT ON BUYING MORE ICE BREAKERS WASHINGTON: After seven years of thinking about the possibilities, the Obama administration now says it wants to build at least one serious icebreaker in the face of increasing competition for the oil, gas, fish and shipping routes the Arctic can offer. Right now, we’ve got two truly…

Carter To China: US ‘Will Fly, Sail, Operate Wherever Law Allows’

Carter To China: US ‘Will Fly, Sail, Operate Wherever Law Allows’
Carter To China: US ‘Will Fly, Sail, Operate Wherever Law Allows’

WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Ash Carter, in a speech billed as all about a new personnel approach for the Pentagon, laid out a clear line in the sand of the temporary islands the Chinese have been building. He reiterated his “deep concern” about  “China’s pace and scope of land reclamation in the South China Sea.” Then he let…

Coast Guard To Navy: Arctic’s Covered; White House OKs Arctic Icebreaker

Coast Guard To Navy: Arctic’s Covered; White House OKs Arctic Icebreaker
Coast Guard To Navy: Arctic’s Covered; White House OKs Arctic Icebreaker

[updated with Adm. Greenert comment] WASHINGTON: While the Navy pivots to the Pacific, the Coast Guard has got their northern flank: the once icebound but now rapidly opening waters of the Arctic Ocean, with its new opportunities for oil, gas, and trade through the fabled Northwest Passage. For the chronically underfunded and “oversubscribed” service, however, the…

Long Odds Loom For Law Of The Sea In Senate

WASHINGTON: At 10 o’clock today, the Administration’s push to pass the Law of the Sea treaty will come before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. If history is any guide, that’s as far as it will ever get. Committee chairman Sen. John Kerry declined to give odds on ratification, saying that would be “premature”: “I just…