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2023-06-23 | BY Hu Bo
The United States conducts freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) against many countries and regions around the world, and FONOP has had strong political and diplomatic overtones from its start in 1980s. However, the FONOPs conducted by US warships around China-stationed features in the South China Sea since 2015 are significantly different from FONOPs undertaken in other parts of the world , with greater publicity and politicization attached. This article analyzes the connections between feature-intrusive FONOPs and the major events of China-US relations, and the text tendency of the US narrative. It is revealed that the US’s increasing anxiety has turned its low-key military operations to be progressively political in the face of the modernization of China's military forces and the construction of a maritime power.
2023-06-03 | BY Lei Xiaolu
The international order should not be based solely on the national interests of any single country, or following the standards of a few countries, but rather on the common interests of all countries. The international order based on international law provides a strong mechanism for safeguarding the common interests of all countries. Only by adhering to the multilateralism mechanism with the United Nations as the core, and the rules of international law, can we truly maintain lasting peace, prosperity and stability of the world. If the U.S. “FON” and “rules-based maritime order” have similar connotations, or if it really wants its position to be understood and accepted, it should seriously consider the positions and concerns of other countries on the right of navigation on an equal footing, and solve problems through bilateral and multilateral arrangements, instead of demanding other States to act according to its standards and interpretations in an imperious tone.
2023-04-06 | BY Hu Bo, Yan Yan, Lei Xiaolu, Zheng Zhihua
On April 3rd, the SCSPI delegation visited Manila and attended an open forum titled “7th Bilateral Consultations Mechanism (BCM) on the South China Sea (SCS): PH-CN Relations Against Stress on the SCS” with Philippines local media, organized by the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies (ACPH).
2023-02-24 | BY Mark Hoskin
At no point did the Constitution suggest the waters within the bounds were included as territory, which would in any case have been violated in 1900 when islands further defined in the 7th April 1900 letter from the US to Spain and ‘embraced’ in the Cession were added, where according to the letter that was part of the preliminary negotiations according to the US in Palmas, the focus expanded from: “Any island within those described bounds.”To ascribe a water’s claim in the face of such language, when it is added to the domestic laws that were developed shortly afterwards and remained in force for a long period, is, quite frankly, absurd. To argue for a maritime limit within the bounds of the 1898 Treaty, the Phillipines is claiming that Spain and the US created an enclosed seas regime that was then ignored during a period when the US was supposedly against such laws.
2022-11-14 | BY Hu Bo
Confidence-building measures (CBMs) are planned procedures to prevent hostilities, avert escalation, reduce military tension, and build mutual trust between countries. They have been applied since the dawn of civilization on all continents. In the South China Sea, CBMs are generally evaluated as a little low, especially in the context of rapidly expanding economic relations. Moreover, there is a wide range of doubts about why China and ASEAN member states have taken so long to conclude the Code of Conduct (COC).

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