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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).
2022-10-20 | BY Yan Yan
With the opening of a new round of face-to-face negotiation and the gradual progress of the second reading, it is foreseeable that the debate over the rules and order of the South China Sea in the post-epidemic era around the COC will become one of the most complicated factors affecting the region.
2022-09-13 | BY Hu Bo
In China’s surrounding waters, including the South China Sea and the East China Sea, despite the growing competition as well as sea and air encounters between two militaries, we should admit, that most of the encounters, more than ten times per day and thousands of times every year, are safe and professional.
2022-08-19 | BY Hu Bo, Lei Xiaolu, Yan Yan
Since 2018, the negotiation on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) accelerates and entered second reading. Despite the impact of COVID-19, all the parties still expressed the need of speeding up the negotiation of the COC.