September exercises in contested South China Sea will look at maritime security and be the first time the Southeast Asian bloc has held them.

Two nations sign memorandum of understanding during meeting between defence chiefs.

Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana says China has told him vessels taking food to Filipino marines, with no escort, will not be blocked again.

Duan Jielong was elected to serve a nine-year term on the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea despite US argument that China disregarded international law.

No more Mr Nice Guy. Southeast Asian countries are turning up the heat on Beijing as the maritime row emerges as a proxy for the US-China struggle.

An unusually strong statement from Malaysia reflects its rejection of China’s ‘nine-dash’ line.

‘Why would you want to re-litigate something that you won? You don’t like you won?’

Indonesia’s deployment of warships to the Natunas this week has fuelled speculation that the regional bloc could finally act as one against China’s maritime assertiveness.

Beijing’s military build-up, maritime militia and island-building have caught America napping. With the PLA rapidly expanding, China may already have the ‘foundation of control’ of the waterway.

Earlier this year, Chinese oil survey vessel and its escorts spent months in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone, which Vietnamese diplomat called ‘very alarming’.

Premier Li Keqiang said China was hopeful of ‘progress’ with a South China Sea code of conduct as he met Asean leaders in Bangkok.

Beyond fake news, there’s a wider trend of people in power ignoring or excising bits of history to suit their own purposes. The North Korean nuclear crisis is one consequence of such disregard for facts

Philip Bowring says Beijing’s assertions of sovereignty over the South China Sea are just ahistorical cant, and are being used to justify an unwarranted sense of superiority