Chinese surveillance assets at Fiery Cross Reef on June 9, 2021. Maxar Image used permission
As the U.S. attempts to pivot its national security focus to the Pacific, the situation in the South China Sea continues to grow more complex. China claims almost the entire area as its own and has running territorial disputes with nearly all of its neighbors, while tensions remain high in part due to the presence of a more aggressive People’s Liberation Army Navy. Read More
Guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur (DDG-73) operates in the South China Sea on Oct. 13, 2016
A U.S. warship has conducted a freedom of navigation operation near Chinese holdings in the South China Sea, a U.S. defense official confirmed to USNI News. Read More
People’s Liberation Army troops patrol an island in the South China Sea. PLA Photo
Chinese officials took a rhetorical hard line this week calling U.S. military actions in the South China Sea the “greatest threat” to stability in the region and vowed to increase its own military presence in the region, according to a Wednesday statement from the Chinese military. Read More
USS William P. Lawrence (DDG-110) transits the Philippine Sea on March 30, 2016, US Navy Photo
A U.S. guided missile destroyer came within 12 nautical miles of a contested Chinese artificial island in the Spratly Island chain in the South China Sea on Tuesday, U.S. officials told USNI News on Tuesday morning. Read More
A map of China’s shifting definition of the so-called Nine-Dash Line. US State Dept. Image
The United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration handed out a decision on Thursday that the Republic of the Philippines’ case against the People’s Republic of China regarding Law of the Seas violations can be heard. This long-awaited decision marks a turning point in the complex landscape of international legality as more maritime nations seek to establish boundaries on their oceanic and littoral territories. Read More
An undated photo of BRP Sierra Madre, grounded on the Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratley Islands
The Philippines government has begun efforts to reinforce the tiny outpost of BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated World War II-era landing ship deliberately beached on Second Thomas Shoal in 1999. Due in no small part to extensive media coverage, the vessel is a well-known symbol of the ongoing territorial dispute over the mineral- and resource-rich Spratleys Island group. Read More
