SouthChinaSea.com | Website on the South China Sea

But despite recent high-profile disagreements, it is still possible for Washington and Beijing to prove Deng right. U.S.-Chinese maritime relations are based on more than frigates and fringing reefs.

Wise handling of those relations should build on preexisting but little-known efforts to improve bilateral cooperation in the global ocean commons. [READ MORE]

Chinese expansion in the South China Sea is bringing conflict between Beijing and its neighbours – Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam – closer than it has been for decades.

Vietnam has fortified several islands it controls, while Japan has been publicly rebuked by Beijing over its 'interference' in the sea – most of which China claims. The Philippines has called for "restraint and sobriety" as its own dispute with Beijing rumbles on. [READ MORE]

Senior officials from China and Vietnam, never friends and even less so over the past two years, vowed this week to work more together – substantially – on a deep maritime dispute.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc pledged Tuesday they would “properly manage maritime differences and further enhance bilateral substantial cooperation” in the South China Sea, according to Beijing’s government-run Xinhua News Agency.

India and Vietnam have enjoyed close ties based on their shared history of fighting against colonial rule. In addition, there is a deep cultural connection between the two as well.

The former kingdom of Champa in present-day Vietnam was deeply influenced by Indian traditions and customs. [READ MORE]

Scarborough Shoal is a settled issue. Not in a good way and not just as a result of Philippines President Duterte’s “ready, fire, aim” approach to statesmanship.

It matters not if China builds new facilities there on yet more coral dredged from the seabed. Since the Shoal came to public prominence in 2012 following the Philippine arrest of Chinese fishermen it has been dominated by China’s Maritime Militias. [READ MORE]

Conventional wisdom has long painted the Chinese as strategic and methodical planners, masters of statecraft with great foresight.

The West, and the US in particular, is hopeless in comparison. For many strategists, we aren’t even on the same board: Chinese are playing Go while the West plays checkers. [READ MORE]

WASHINGTON: The People’s Republic of China is headed on a tragic trajectory that should be familiar to anyone with even cursory exposure to history.

Due to a complex composition of factors – a century of torment at the hands of western powers and Japan as well as a toxic brew of nationalism – the PRC is not content with its place as the world’s second largest economy, or even largest when using purchasing-parity power, or PPP, as the benchmark.  [READ MORE]

China and Russia began eight days of military exercises in the South China Sea near southern China's Guangdong province Monday in the latest sign that Moscow is playing a role in growing tensions between Beijing and the United States over the contested waters.

The "Joint Sea-2016" naval exercise involves surface ships, submarines, fixed-wing aircraft, ship-borne helicopters and marines. [READ MORE]

Even as it endeavors to unite allies in the South China Sea amidst heightened tensions, the United States has hit upon a roadblock. And it comes from the unlikeliest of quarters – the Philippines.

After a campaign strewn with outlandish comments and violent promises directed against criminals and drug smugglers, Rodrigo Duterte was elected president earlier this year. [READ MORE]

For many of my generation, Vietnam remains a complex enigma, depending on our personal experiences and memories of the country.

I arrived in Vietnam in 1970 as a U.S. Army captain and was immediately overwhelmed by the country’s natural beauty and the genuine warmth and hospitality of the local Vietnamese. [READ MORE]