Did US push China over the edge?  

After a series of aggressive incidents involving Chinese patrol boats and subsequent soothing official statements, many analysts are trying to figure out what’s really going on. More specifically, why are different sections of China’s government giving mixed signals, and choosing, in nearly one fell swoop, to embarrass their own leaders, undermine China’s carefully nurtured and reasonably successful ‘charm offensive’ towards ASEAN, and play right into the US strategy of convincing ASEAN nations that they need its protection from a bullying China? (The Diplomat)

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Beijing and Moscow beyond the SCO summit   
So what really happened at the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), last week in Kazakhstan? Compared to expectations at fever pitch, it was a rather measured affair; more of a road map than a game-changer. Still, China, Russia and four Central Asian "stans" - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - went way beyond a predictable security/economic cooperation menu.        (Al Jazeera)

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Talk about imbalances  
    
In a spring swing through Shanghai, Beijing and Southeast Asia I kept looking for the pillars to sustain the global economy, even as the U.S., Europe and Japan must struggle a good while longer. Much as the independent strength and potential in a country like Indonesia can be encouraging, my quest for now kept leading me back to China. (Forbes)

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ASEAN should forge ahead with integration despite territorial disputes   
  
When Indonesia took the chairmanship of ASEAN in January, it could not have asked for a more challenging task than to deal with the military clashes which have erupted between Thailand and Cambodia over a border dispute. Jakarta had some grand designs when it asked Brunei to swap places for the right to chair the regional grouping as Indonesia's turn was not due until 2013. But as ASEAN under Indonesia's chairmanship forges ahead with the creation of a Southeast Asian Community by 2015, the clashes on the Thai-Cambodian border are a reminder of the many territorial disputes among its ten members that for much of its 44-year history have been swept under the carpet. (Asia Pacific Bulletin)

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Danger at sea  
  
China’s surprisingly aggressive assertion of “indisputable sovereignty” over the South China Sea has startled governments around the region, and puts the emerging superpower on a collision course with its partners in the region as well as the interests of the other, long-established superpower, the United States.                (The Inquirer)

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Vietnam should wake up to a Danger!  

Starting June 13, Vietnam first staged live-fire drills in the South China Sea amid rising tensions with China, then issued a decree specifying who would be exempt from military call-up in a time of war. In response, China said it will not resort to the use of force to resolve maritime border disputes in the South China Sea. Perhaps, it is due to the consciousness of the fact that as a "military underdog", Vietnam might well rally international support and garner others' sympathy that China has to be treading a little more carefully. (People’s Daily)

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An ASEAN community by 2015?   
  
There is some scepticism, even a great deal of it, in a number of quarters about the ability of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to achieve its proclaimed goal of an ASEAN Community by 2015. This scepticism is misplaced, based as it is on a misunderstanding of the ASEAN Community concept and its target-year of 2015. It is, more broadly, based on a misconception  of how ASEAN has operated since its founding in 1967. (ISEAS)

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South China Sea is not Shangri-La      

As China's power becomes ever more obvious, especially to neighbors in Asia, Chinese leaders are finding it increasingly difficult to reconcile soothing words with assertive actions. The recent attempt by China's defense minister to assure Southeast Asian countries and other nations that see the South China Sea as a security and economic lifeline shows how Beijing's credibility is on the line. (The Japan Times)

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As China makes waves in South China Sea, neighbors need more than new names   
   
Sloppy reporting is giving the impression that the most recent dispute in the South China Sea between China and Vietnam has been about the Spratly and Paracel islands. Instead, the clash over these islands is in fact an illustration of China’s claim to the whole South China Sea, reaching close to the territorial waters of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines. (The Jakarta Globe)

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