Vietnam asks ICAO to correct Sanya FIR map in East Vietnam Sea

TUOI TRE NEWS – UPDATED : 01/16/2016 15:07 GMT + 7

Vietnam has requested that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) correct the map of a flight information region (FIR) that contains information violating Vietnam’s sovereignty.

The map of the Sanya FIR, which includes Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago, has the Chinese words of “Sansha city – China,” according to the Vietnam News Agency.

It also draws a symbol of an airport on Da Chu Thap (Fiery Cross) Reef in Truong Sa, with the English words “Yong Shu airport – Sansha.”

Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said on Friday that moves are a violation of Vietnam’s sovereignty over Truong Sa and Hoang Sa, as well as an infringement on Vietnam’s legitimate rights in the East Vietnam Sea.

Vietnam has many times raised a voice protesting China’s establishment of the so-called “Sansha city” and its building of artificial islands and an airport in the area, the spokesman said.

Binh also said that Vietnam has indisputable sovereignty over the Truong Sa (Spratly) and Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelagos.

In letters recently sent to ICAO, Vietnamese agencies have affirmed Vietnam’s sovereignty and noted that China’s flights to Da Chu Thap has violated ICAO’s regulations on aviation safety, according to theVietnam News Agency.

On Thursday, the United Nations endorsed two diplomatic notes Vietnam sent to China on January 2 and 7 as official documents of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, the Vietnam News Agencyreported on Friday.

The notes protest China’s flights to Da Chu Thap in Vietnam’s Truong Sa archipelago and make it clear that it is a violation of Vietnam’s sovereignty and a threat to peace, and to stability, as well as aviation security and safety in the East Vietnam Sea.

The permanent Vietnam Mission to the United Nations had earlier sent a diplomatic note to the UN Secretary General, demanding that the UN circulate these two notes.

Trang bị trên khu trục hạm Mỹ triển khai ở Trường Sa

Thứ ba, 27/10/2015 | 09:56 GMT+7
VEKhu trục hạm, được Washington điều tới sát đảo nhân tạo mà Bắc Kinh xây dựng trái phép trên Biển Đông, thuộc biên chế hạm đội lớn nhất của hải quân Mỹ, thường nhận nhiệm vụ tuần tra trong khu vực châu Á – Thái Bình Dương.

Một quan chức quốc phòng Mỹ hôm nay cho biết tàu USS Lassen đang đến gần đá Subi và Vành Khăn ở quần đảo Trường Sa, nơi Trung Quốc tiến hành hoạt động nạo vét, bồi đắp lớn để biến chúng thành các đảo nhân tạo từ năm 2014. Tàu Lassen có thể ở trong khu vực khoảng vài giờ. Tiếp tục đọc “Trang bị trên khu trục hạm Mỹ triển khai ở Trường Sa”

Chiến hạm Mỹ vào vùng 12 hải lý quanh đá Subi

VE – Một quan chức quốc phòng Mỹ giấu tên xác nhận tàu USS Lassen đã vào trong phạm vi 12 hải lý quanh đá Subi, nơi Trung Quốc bồi đắp trái phép ở Biển Đông.

chien-ham-my-vao-vung-12-hai-ly-quanh-da-subi

Tàu khu trục tên lửa dẫn đường USS Lassen của Mỹ. Ảnh: US Navy

Tàu USS Lassen đã di chuyển bên trong phạm vi 12 hải lý quanh đá Subi, USA Today dẫn lời một quan chức Bộ Quốc phòng Mỹ không tiết lộ danh tính nói. Tàu đi cùng các máy bay trinh sát của hải quân Mỹ. Nhiệm vụ “hoàn thành mà không gặp sự cố nào”, Washington Post dẫn lời quan chức giấu tên nói.

Hải quân Mỹ làm vậy để duy trì lợi ích của Mỹ với tự do đi lại trên không, trên biển và hoạt động ở bất cứ nơi nào trên thế giới luật quốc tế cho phép, quan chức nói.

Tiếp tục đọc “Chiến hạm Mỹ vào vùng 12 hải lý quanh đá Subi”

U.S. warship sails close to Chinese artificial island in South China Sea

U.S. sends warship within 12 nautical miles of one of China’s artificial islands
Move viewed as potential challenges to China in South China Sea

Washington (CNN): The United States sent a warship very close to one of China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea on Tuesday, a potential challenge to Beijing’s territorial claims in the contested waters.

A U.S. defense official told CNN that the destroyer USS Lassen “conducted a transit” within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef in the Spratly Islands on Tuesday morning local time. Tiếp tục đọc “U.S. warship sails close to Chinese artificial island in South China Sea”

Xi, Obama go tieless to untie various issues at private dinner

(chinadaily.com.cn/Xinhua) Updated: 2015-09-25 09:43

US President Barack Obama hosts a private dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping at Blair House in Washington DC, September 24, 2015. [Photo by Lan Hongguang/Xinhua]

Xi, Obama go tieless to untie various issues at private dinner

President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama held a three-hour private dinner Thursday night, investing more time in building personal ties.

The private dinner, scheduled for two hours, extended to about three hours, with people around the event saying the two leaders explored many issues.

The two presidents walked shoulder to shoulder through the Pennsylvania Avenue before arriving at the Blair House, reminding audience of their talks during the past two years.

State Councilor Yang Jiechi, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Xi’s presidential office head and chief aid Ding Xuexiang joined the dinner.

On the US side, Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Adviser Susan Rice were on hand for the informal dinner. Tiếp tục đọc “Xi, Obama go tieless to untie various issues at private dinner”

CSIS Pacific Forum – China wins the gray zone by default

Sep 17, 2015

China is beating the United States in the “gray zone,” where a state attempts to make gains at the expense of a strategic competitor by using tactics that, while aggressive, remain below the level that usually triggers conventional military retaliation. Tiếp tục đọc “CSIS Pacific Forum – China wins the gray zone by default”

The South China Sea Problem Has Been Militarized and Internationalized: What Now?

EWI

Piin-Fen Kok, EWI Director of the China, East Asia and United States Program, sheds light on current efforts to contain South China Sea tensions.

August 24, 2015

Despite China’s protestations against discussing the issue, the South China Sea was front and center at this month’s meetings between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other regional players in Kuala Lumpur. Amid criticisms of China’s island-reclamation activities, the U.S. and China continued to trade accusations that the other is militarizing the South China Sea. Meanwhile, China maintained its objection, to no avail, to internationalizing the South China Sea issue through the involvement of non-ASEAN members. Tiếp tục đọc “The South China Sea Problem Has Been Militarized and Internationalized: What Now?”

Vietnam verifying report of China constructing 3rd airstrip in Truong Sa (Spratlys)

Tuoi Tre News

Updated : 09/22/2015 17:29 GMT + 7

Hanoi is verifying a report that Beijing is building the third runway in Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago in the East Vietnam Sea, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Le Hai Binh said on Monday.

“We are checking if this report is credible. However, we have repeatedly confirmed Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Truong Sa and Hoang Sa [Paracel] archipelagos. Any activity carried out by any foreign country in these archipelagos without the prior approval of Vietnam is a violation of the country’s sovereignty, breaks international law, and is illegal and invalid,” Binh told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. Tiếp tục đọc “Vietnam verifying report of China constructing 3rd airstrip in Truong Sa (Spratlys)”

China ‘extremely concerned’ by proposed U.S. challenge to claims

Fri Sep 18, 2015 4:48am EDT

China ‘extremely concerned’ by proposed U.S. challenge to claims

China said on Friday it was “extremely concerned” about a suggestion from a top U.S. commander that U.S. ships and aircraft should challenge China’s claims in the South China Sea by patrolling close to artificial islands it has built.

China’s increasingly assertive action to back up its sovereignty claims in the South China Sea have included land reclamation and the construction of ports and air facilities on several reefs in the Spratly Islands. Tiếp tục đọc “China ‘extremely concerned’ by proposed U.S. challenge to claims”

CSIS: AMTI Brief, Sept. 15, 2015


Spratlys Airstrip Update: Is Mischief Reef Next?

Potential New Runway Presents New Headaches
by Greg Poling
Over the last year, the world has watched as China has gone from one airfield in the South China Sea to potentially four. Facilities on Woody Island in the Paracels already gave China the ability to monitor the northern South China Sea. Earlier this year, the addition of an airfield on Fiery Cross Reef provided a more southerly runway capable of handling most if not all Chinese military aircraft. And in June, satellite photos indicated that China was preparing to lay down another runway at Subi Reef. New photos taken on September 3 show grading work at Subi, providing further evidence that runway construction there is planned. Meanwhile work at the Fiery Cross airfield is well advanced, with China recently laying down paint. Tiếp tục đọc “CSIS: AMTI Brief, Sept. 15, 2015”

China Building Third Airstrip in South China Sea, US Expert Warns

Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in this still file image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy

China Building Third Airstrip in South China Sea, US Expert Warns

© REUTERS/ U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters
Asia & Pacific

04:00 15.09.2015(updated 11:19 15.09.2015)
China appears to be building a third airstrip in contested territory in the South China Sea, a US expert said on Monday, citing satellite photographs taken last week.

The photos – taken for Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) – show construction on Mischief Reef, one of the artificial islands China has built in the Spratly archipelago, Reuters reported.

The images show infrastructure matching similar work China has done on two other reefs, said Greg Poling, director of CSIS’s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI). Tiếp tục đọc “China Building Third Airstrip in South China Sea, US Expert Warns”

Malaysia and U.S. in Talks to Ramp Up China Spying

bloombergview
<p>Someone's been busy here.</p> Source: DigitalGlobe via Getty Images
Someone’s been busy here.
Source: DigitalGlobe via Getty Images

The U.S. and Malaysia have been secretly discussing expanded use of Malaysian territory for hosting U.S. spy planes to patrol the South China Sea, in response to increased Chinese activity in the disputed territory.

Following a series of incursions into Malaysian waters by Chinese vessels in recent months, talks between the U.S. government and the office of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak have intensified, two senior U.S. defense officials said. The U.S. side has been pressing Najib’s government to allow the U.S. Navy to fly both P-8 Poseidon and P-3 Orion maritime surveillance planes from Malaysian airstrips over South China Sea areas where the Chinese government has been rapidly building artificial islands. Tiếp tục đọc “Malaysia and U.S. in Talks to Ramp Up China Spying”

Australia alarmed by strategic rivalry in South China Sea

Wed Sep 2, 2015 5:31am EDT

 
Australia expressed alarm on Wednesday at escalating strategic rivalry in the South China Sea, saying it puts Asia at the risk of a military blunder with potentially serious consequences. Tiếp tục đọc “Australia alarmed by strategic rivalry in South China Sea”

CSIS Southeast Asia SIT-REP, Aug 13, 2015

CSIS Southeast Asia SIT-REP

The SIT-REP gives you links to all of CSIS Southeast Asia’s (@SoutheastAsiaDC) best updates and programs in a five minute read. This issue includes recommendations for U.S. policymakers to grapple with the South China Sea, a series of blog posts on Myanmar’s roiling politics, a profile of one of Malaysia foremost moderate Islamic leaders, and much more. Links will take you to the full publications, multimedia, or to registration for upcoming programs when available. To jump to a section, select one of the following: Tiếp tục đọc “CSIS Southeast Asia SIT-REP, Aug 13, 2015”