Latest South China Sea News
China holds combat drills at a disputed shoal west of the Philippines
BEIJING (AP) — China held sea and air combat drills Wednesday at disputed Scarborough Shoal, an uninhabited area of reefs and rocks it had seized from the Philippines in the South China Sea. China on Sunday published new baselines for the shoal including geographic coordinates. A...
Philippine defense secretary doesn't expect Trump will demand payment for protection
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said Tuesday that he didn't expect President-elect Donald Trump’s next administration would demand that the Philippines pay more for military protection because both allies faced the shared threat of China. ...
Typhoon batters storm-weary Philippines and displaces thousands more people as a new storm threatens
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Typhoon Toraji unleashed floods, knocked down trees and caused power outages in the northern Philippines before weakening into a tropical storm and blowing out to the South China Sea, officials said Tuesday as they braced for another approaching storm. ...
China delimits a contested South China Sea shoal in a dispute with Philippines
BEIJING (AP) — China has published baselines for a contested shoal in the South China Sea it had seized from the Philippines, a move that's likely to increase tensions over overlapping territorial claims. The Foreign Ministry on Sunday posted online geographic coordinates for the...
Philippine president angers China with new laws to demarcate South China Sea territories
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed two laws on Friday reaffirming the extent of his country’s maritime territories and right to resources, including in the South China Sea, angering China, which claims the hotly disputed waterway almost in its entirety....
Typhoon floods villages, rips off roofs and damages 2 domestic airports in northern Philippines
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Typhoon Yinxing battered the northern Philippines with floods and landslides before blowing away from the country on Friday, leaving two airports damaged and aggravating a calamity caused by back-to-back storms that hit in recent weeks. There were no...
Philippine forces retake an island in mock combat as China's navy watches
THITU ISLAND, South China Sea (AP) — Philippine forces practised retaking an island in the South China Sea Wednesday in the first such combat exercise in the disputed waters as Chinese navy ships kept watch from a distance, the Philippine military chief said. Gen. Romeo Brawner...
Philippine military drills to seize an island in the South China Sea
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine military opened two weeks of combat drills Monday that would include seizing an island in the disputed South China Sea and likely be frowned upon by China. More than 3,000 Filipino army, navy and air force personnel will take part in the...
At least 126 dead and missing in massive flooding and landslides in Philippines
TALISAY, Philippines (AP) — The number of dead and missing in massive flooding and landslides wrought by Tropical Storm Trami in the Philippines has reached nearly 130 and the president said Saturday that many areas remained isolated with people in need of rescue. Trami blew away...
Storm blows away from northern Philippines leaving 82 dead but forecasters warn it may do a U-turn
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Tropical Storm Trami blew away from the northwestern Philippines on Friday, leaving at least 82 people dead in landslides and extensive flooding that forced authorities to scramble for more rescue boats to save thousands of terrified people, who were trapped, some on...
