While China’s action falls within common international legal practice, Manila’s unilateral pursuit of its claims violates the rule and spirit of its agreements with Beijing on how to resolve such disputes, and threatens the peaceful order of the region. China and other claimants are all developing countries with economic and social uplift as their main task, and should settle their disputes with direct negotiation as outlined in ASEAN agreements.

China's military is paying "close attention" to an agreement between the United States and Singapore to deploy the U.S. P8 Poseidon spy plane to the city state and hopes the move does not harm regional stability, the defense ministry said.

The United States has deployed a P-8 Poseidon spy plane in Singapore for the first time, amid heightened tensions in the region over China's expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Manila’s just-completed Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) consisted of two parts. The official summit agreed on the need to fight terrorism, enhance economic growth, reduce poverty and increase climate change resiliency. Unofficially, the huge political gulf between the U.S. and China over the South China Sea was on display.

APEC 2015 ended with a vow to combat terrorism, yet the Summit refused to be distracted from its true goal – economic development. In the coming years, the United States, China, and the Association of Southeast Nations must compromise if they truly want to invest in both regional peace and economic development.

Washington’s move to politicize this meeting simply reflects the growing frustration of a US that doesn’t know how to deal with China. This time it has taken a wrong approach to confront China at the wrong occasion. The result was not helpful in improving relations among the countries concerned.

China's top admiral said his forces have shown "enormous restraint" in the face of U.S. provocations in the South China Sea, while warning they stand ready to respond to repeated breaches of Chinese sovereignty.

Mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity is the basic norm of international relations. The US is duty-bound to make a careful study of China’s solemn position on this vital issue and show proper respect for China’s sovereignty instead of taking provocative actions based on contrived legal interpretations.

Richard Weitz reviews the recent speech of U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, who describes China’s potential to challenge the U.S.-built international order through its assertive stance in the South China Sea, and finds his approach sensible, given the mixed and fluid strategic relationship between the two countries.

In October, the USS Lassen sailed within twelve nautical miles of an artificial Chinese island in the South China Sea as a “freedom of navigation patrol.” Benjamin Reynolds argues that China should not risk a military confrontation by responding to American patrols.