Canberra, 26th March 2024 Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island separated from mainland China by the Taiwan Strait. It is a democracy of 23 million people, governed independently since 1949. Mainland China, officially the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) asserts that there is only ‘one China’, themselves, views Taiwan as […]
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Tag Archives: South China Sea
Whispering Thoughts No 19
September 17, 2023 
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September 2023 ASEAN UNDER STRESS Part II: POSSIBLE FUTURE TRAJECTORY In the past decade, the ASEAN region has become the jostling ground for an on-going US–China rivalry, while the organisation is struggling to contain divisive issues that undermine its claims to being a uniting force attempting to keep away big power rivalry. The bloc’s silence […]
Continue readingWhispering Thoughts (No 18)
September 15, 2023 0 Comments
September 2023 ASEAN UNDER STRESS Part I: THE GROUND REALITY The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is facing several challenges that are creating severe stress to it as an entity. The Association faces many difficult circumstances in the region, as acknowledged by the foreign ministers of the member states, which have brought […]
Continue readingIndia-China Relations: Complex and Out-of-Step
August 8, 2017 0 Comments
Canberra, 8 August 2017 On 15 May 2015, India and China came out with a joint statement acknowledging the simultaneous re-emergence of both the nations as major regional powers. This event was termed as heralding the beginning of the Asian Century in international geo-politics. The bilateral relationship between India and China influences and has repercussions […]
Continue readingThe Philippines – A New President Takes Over
October 4, 2016 0 Comments
Singapore, 04 October 2016 President Rodrigo Duterte took office as the President of the Philippines on 30 June 2016 after winning a landslide election victory. On the face of it, it would seem that he hit the ground running, putting in place vigorous programs to solve issues that he had identified during the election campaign. […]
Continue readingThe South China Sea Arbitration: The Court Rules – But Who Will Enforce the Writ?
August 1, 2016 0 Comments
Canberra, 1 August 2016 On 12 July 2016, the Tribunal constituted under Annex VII to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) located at The Hague in the Netherlands passed judgement on the case of the Republic of the Philippines V. the People’s Republic of China. The Award, concerning the historic […]
Continue readingPatience and Denial: China’s Dual Strategies
March 1, 2016 0 Comments
Canberra, 1 March 2106 While the world has been busy and preoccupied with the conflict in the Middle-East, the refugee problem that it has spawned, finding a solution to the intransigent Syrian issue and coming to terms with the rise and rise of militant Islam, the South China Sea has percolated to becoming an […]
Continue readingCHINA’S ADIZ: A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS
December 19, 2013 1 Comment
Canberra, 19 December 2013 The so-called US pivot to Asia has brought the Asia-Pacific region into global focus and highlighted the fact that along with its economic dynamism, there are also political upheavals and turmoil in the region. Significantly the common cause of this turbulence is the activities of the People’s Republic of China, by […]
Continue readingSOUTH-EAST ASIAN PRESSURE POINTS
February 12, 2013 0 Comments
Canberra, 12 February 2013 South East Asia is made up of a number of nations, most of them geographically of small to medium size and varying in economic development from being poor to developing and to growing, if such an economic continuum can be coined. The disparities in development and standard of living between the […]
Continue readingTHE CONTESTED SOUTH CHINA SEA
December 28, 2012 0 Comments
Singapore, 28 December 2012 The on-going dispute regarding control of the South China Sea can be traced to the Treaty of Tordesillas signed in 1494, according to which the then ‘global’ powers Spain and Portugal divided the newly ‘discovered’ lands outside Europe between themselves in an arbitrary manner along a meridian about 2200 kilometres west […]
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Sanu Kainikara 
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