China turns up heat in maritime heart of SE Asia   
  
Faced with expansive and increasingly assertive Chinese claims to control as much as 80 per cent of the South China Sea in the maritime heart of South-East Asia, ASEAN countries and major user nations, including Australia, are aligning – based on shared concerns at China’s actions. (The Canberra Times)

(click on the headline to continue)  

Japan muddies water in South China Sea debate   
   

The ongoing wrangle over jurisdiction of the disputed South China Sea took a new turn on Tuesday with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III meeting Japanese Prime Minister Yoshikiko Noda in Tokyo. (The Irrawaddy)

(click on the headline to continue)  

ASEAN responds to concerns about regional food security   
   

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has pushed food security to the top of its agenda amid continuing global concerns over the volatility of food prices and food supplies. (The Nation)

(click on the headline to continue)  

China’s Indian Ocean ‘String of Pearls’ is no military treat – at least for now   
   

With the Western world mired in a debt crisis, the rise of China’s military appears more threatening than ever. The recent launch of China’s first aircraft carrier will add to regional anxieties. But a closer examination shows that at least one aspect of China’s supposed military prowess – its alleged creation of far-ranging naval facilities, the so-called “string of pearls” strategy – can be discounted as fevered imagination. (The Jakarta Globe)

(click on the headline to continue)  

India’s South China Sea Warning   
   

An influential Chinese Communist Party-run newspaper has warned that ‘every means possible’ should be used to stop India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Videsh engaging in exploration projects in the South China Sea. (The Diplomat)

(click on the headline to continue)  

Burma’s neighbors can help it escape the past      

The advent of military rule in 1962 set Burma on a path of political and social experimentation that created both economic instability as well as structural rigidity. These features continue to characterize the economy of present-day Burma. (The Jakarta Globe)

(click on the headline to continue)  

Deep Danger: Competing Claims in the South China Sea       

The waters of the South China Sea are dotted with hundreds of atolls, reefs, and small islands—only one of which has sufficient fresh water to qualify, under traditional international law, as capable of supporting human habitation. Nonetheless, these land features and the 1.35 million square miles of water that surround them are the subject of competing territorial claims by China and Taiwan (whose claims appear to encompass the entire South China Sea and all of its land features) and by five Southeast Asian countries (Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia, though Indonesia’s claim is limited to waters at the sea’s extreme southern tip).                                                  (The Viet-Studies/The Current History)

(click on the headline to continue)  

Can China defend a “core interest” in the South China Sea?  

De´ja` vu surrounds reports that Beijing has claimed a ‘‘core interest’’ in the South China Sea. High-ranking Chinese officials reportedly asserted such an interest during a private March 2010 meeting with two visiting U.S. dignitaries, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and the senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council, Jeffrey Bader.              (The Washington Quarterly)

(click on the headline to continue)  

Positive Steps in South China Sea      

Last month in Bali, China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries agreed on a set of guidelines for implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, signed in Phnom Penh in 2002. Although the one-page set of guidelines hasn’t been published, it’s largely believed to be an interim process toward an eventual code of conduct in the South China Sea. There has even been talking about creating such a code later this year at the East Asia Summit.                  (The Diplomat)

(click on the headline to continue)

ASEAN integration: a long way to go      

Following the success of the 44th ASEAN ministerial meeting, leaders of the group’s 10 member states need to ask questions about the goals of integration and to what extent the concept of integration is to be developed. One of the considerable facts that should not be overlooked by the ASEAN countries is the case of the European Union (EU), the leading regional organization of states, which is currently challenged by its most promising realm: the economy. (The Jakarta Post)

(click on the headline to continue)

South China Sea: be aware of undercurrent   
It was amazing that given their cordial ties, China and ASEAN took almost a decade to agree on the guidelines for their conducts over the disputed South China Sea. With it, they can now begin to work together on various confidence building measures and jointly proposed projects in the huge unsettled maritime territory.   (The Nation)

(click on the headline to continue)

ARF makes a contribution  
  
After the fireworks at last year's meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the big question at this year's get-together was whether the United States and China would again clash over the South China Sea.                  (The Japan Times)

(click on the headline to continue)

Beating the South China Sea Phoenix   

Last week, with the world watching, a sense of optimism wafted out of the Bali ASEAN Regional Forum meetings. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China agreed on ‘guidelines’ for implementing their previously agreed 2002 Declaration on Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). Some players, including China, hailed this as a breakthrough.            (The Diplomat)

(click on the headline to continue)

Sketching out a future ASEAN-NATO partnership  
    

As the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) enters its seventh decade and as ASEAN consolidates its regional community building ahead of and beyond 2015, the bodies have much to learn from each other.           (The Jakarta Post)

(click on the headline to continue)

ASEAN gets recognition, now it must act   
     
Asean centrality has moved up one notch with the Hague-based International Court of Justice mentioning Asean in its decision recently in regard to the Thai-Cambodian dispute. No wonder, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told his Asean colleagues a few hours later at their closed-door meeting in Bali that “Asean is in the equation”. (The Nation)

(click on the headline to continue)

Law and the South China Sea   
    

To help control potential armed conflicts in the South China Sea, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has recently pressed China to conclude a Code of Conduct (COC) to replace the Declaration of Conduct (DOC) of Parties in the South China Sea that was signed between ASEAN and China in 2002. (The Diplomat)

(click on the headline to continue)

Vietnam’s carefully managed anger  

    

For five consecutive Sundays this past month, protesters in Hanoi have gathered close to the Chinese embassy to protest China’s recent actions in the South China Sea (known as the East Sea in Vietnam). (The Diplomat)

(click on the headline to continue)

Can Indonesia mediate the South China Sea dispute?  
  

Tensions over the overlapping claims in the South China Sea (SCS) have mounted in the past months, with hostilities accelerating since the beginning of June. The row between China, Vietnam and the Philippines has urged current ASEAN chair, Indonesia, to step up.        (East Asia Forum)

(click on the headline to continue)

Vietnam weighs patriotism against diplomacy in China spat   
  
As anti-China protests in Vietnam enter their fourth week, Hanoi's recent rapprochement with China has raised the question of how well the government can balance diplomatic requirements with the public's patriotic demands. (M&C)

(click on the headline to continue)

Understanding the claims and claimants in the South China Sea  
   
How do we resolve the territorial disputes in the South China Sea (SCS)? There is no clear answer, but the first step to settling any argument is to examine all sides of the story. (East Asia Forum)

(click on the headline to continue)