... international order. But Beijing does so much more intelligently than Moscow.
In May this year Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov announced that Russia will participate in joint naval drills with its Asia-Pacific allies (most likely China, among others) in the South China Sea in May 2016. How do you see Russia's potential participation playing into the overall dynamics of the region?
There always has been a Russian naval presence in Asia-Pacific, which Moscow now intends to strengthen. But this will ...
... his country’s relevance in international affairs on the back of its complicity in isolating Russia. Given that the United Kingdom’s role in Asian security issues is minimal at best, this seemed to be the only way he could accomplish this.
China’s actions in the South China Sea also took centre stage in unofficial meetings held on the side lines of the forum.
Why is the issue of the South China Sea and the competition for the tiny uninhabitable islands attracting so much attention? Since Russia is trying not ...
... threat
is that China would use a combination of land-based missiles, new island bases, and an expanded PLA Navy to deny American and allied forces access to the South China Sea.
This sounds quite ominous in the abstract but quite silly in the specifics. China closing the South China Sea would be like Russia closing the Bosporus and the Baltic. It would be similar to cutting off your nose to spite your face. Pundits like to
point out
that billions of dollars of world trade pass through the South China Sea every year. ...
... been escalating tensions in the region and affecting the conflict's entire political configuration. The issue is China's decision to deploy maritime policing vessels for inspecting, if necessary, vessels belonging other countries in the part of the South China Sea that China claims to be under its jurisdiction (about 80% of the total area), and the initiation by the Philippines of UNCLOS Arbitral Proceedings against China in an attempt to settle the territorial dispute with Beijing.
The Philippines Toughen Policy toward ...
