Territory & Conflict

Energy shocks have a way of making difficult ideas look practical.   With oil and gas disruptions in the Middle East hitting the Philippines, Manila has declared an energy emergency and is now revisiting options that would have been politically sensitive just months ago. One of them is back on the table: joint energy exploration with China in the West Philippine Sea.   In a March interview, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the go...

China is moving naval forces across the Western Pacific in a way that signals more than routine activity.   Beijing says the deployments are standard operations. But the movement of the aircraft carrier Liaoning south of the Taiwan Strait, alongside a separate PLA Navy task group pushing through the Ryukyu Islands, points to something broader.   Taken together, these moves look like a demonstration of how China could apply pressure ...

Tensions in the West Philippine Sea are entering a more serious phase. Reports that Chinese-linked boats used cyanide near a Philippine outpost come as Manila strengthens its presence on Pagasa Island with a new Coast Guard command center. These are not separate events. They show a clear shift. As pressure on Philippine forces becomes more constant and harder to ignore, Manila is moving from protest to a stronger, more permanent presence at sea....

A pre-dawn raid in the Lanao del Sur region of the Philippines ended with 10 alleged Islamist militants dead. The region is still dealing with armed networks that are more fragmented than in years past, yet still lethal enough to kill soldiers and destabilize communities.   Attempt to Arrest Dawlah Islamiya-Maute Commander Ends in Deadly Clash Police and army troops entered a village near Marantao to arrest Amerol Mangoranca, a commander ...

The Philippine Navy is moving fast to upgrade its defense strategy by getting new autonomous drone ships and by participating major international military drills. These changes come at a time of rising tension between Manila and Beijing in the South China Sea, indicating that the Philippines is trying to strengthen both its military reach and disaster response systems.   Autonomous Drone Ships Transform Maritime Defense The Navy has teame...