Author: Pham Ngoc Minh Trang

Recently there have been many dangerous encounters between the Philippines and China in the waters around the Second Thomas Shoal. It is an offshore maritime feature located in the exclusive economic of the Philippines, less than 200 nautical miles from the Philippine Island of Palawan, and almost 600 nautical miles from China’s Hainan Island. A […]

The negotiation for the adoption of a Code of Conduct (COC) for the South China Sea between ASEAN countries and China usually sparks controversies. The necessity of a COC regulating maritime activities in the region was first mentioned in an ASEAN document in 1992 and appeared in a joint declaration of ASEAN and China in […]

On November 4, the ASEAN chair’s gavel was passed to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc of Vietnam at the closing ceremony of the grouping’s annual summit in Bangkok. Vietnam will serve as the chair of ASEAN, the most important international organization in Southeast Asia, through 2020. This will be a crucial year for the grouping […]

On September 12, Vietnam publicly denounced the provocative actions of Chinese vessels in Vietnamese waters for the seventh time since June, urging China to withdraw their ships. These statements have done little to deter China’s activities: the survey ship Haiyang Dizhi 8 continues to violate Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone, while Chinese coastguard vessels such as […]