A member of the Philippines Coast Coast Guard cuts the barrier installed by Chinese forces around Scarborough Shoal. AFP Photo
Beijing is protesting the Philippine Armed Forces’ removal of a floating barrier installed by Chinese forces to block access to the contested Scarborough Shoal. Read More
PCG vessels – BRP Cabra and BRP Sindangan escorted the indigenous boats utilized by the AFP as supply vessels to transport essential provisions to our troops aboard BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, completing the mission on Aug. 22, 2023. Philippine Coast Guard Photo
With a U.S. Navy reconnaissance plane circling overhead, two resupply ships escorted by two Philippine Coast Guard vessels maneuvered their way through a Chinese naval blockade in a five-hour confrontation to bring food, other supplies and a fresh crew to its forces guarding a contested shoal, according to press reports. Read More
The following is the United Kingdom’s National Strategy for Maritime Security that was released this week. Read More
The following is the May 24, 2018 Congressional Research Service report, Maritime Territorial and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) Disputes Involving China: Issues for Congress. Read More
Liu Yunshan (R), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, holds talks with Le Hong Anh, special envoy of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam(CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong, also a Politburo member and standing secretary of the Secretariat of the CPV Central Committee, in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 27, 2014. Xinhua Photo
An ongoing dispute over territorial rights in the South China Sea between China and Vietnam may have cooled, following a Wednesday Beijing meeting between both countries, according to reports in Chinese state-run media. Read More
File photo of the Haiyang Shiyou 981 oilrig. Xinhua Photo
Chinese officials are claiming the U.S. is stoking international discord over a disputed drilling operation in an area of the South China Sea in territory claimed by both China and Vietnam, according to a Tuesday statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Read More
Chinese ships firing water cannons at Vietnamese patrol vessels. Vietnam National Border Committee Photo
Vietnamese officials accused Chinese ships of ramming patrol boats on May 3, near the $1 billion Chinese oil rig operating in waters both Beijing and Hanoi claim as their exclusive territory. Read More
China National Offshore Oil Corporation Oil rig. CNOOC Photo
Vietnamese officals are calling the presence of an offshore Chinese oilrig off the coast of Vietnam “illegal and invalid,” fueling ongoing territorial disputes between Hanoi and Beijing, according to a Monday report by the Reuters wire service. Read More
Proceedings, January 2013
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are designated sites found throughout the World Ocean that are set aside for special protection and management. They conserve and protect sensitive ecosystems as well as cultural history. Governments ranging from the national to the local levels have established MPAs in almost every coastal nation in the world.
At 132,000 square miles, Hawaii’s Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument is one of the world’s largest protected oceanic spaces. But the total global area of such preserves is still just a drop in the bucket. NOAA Photo
The United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty (UNCLOS) gives signatory coastal states a 200-mile wide Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This includes a 12-mile-wide territorial sea where those countries have full sovereign rights. Beyond that point, states have quasi-sovereign rights to regulate almost all activities out to their 200-mile boundary. Thus coastal states have clear authority to establish MPAs within their EEZs. However, at present most are located within territorial waters. Read More
