Nestled on the deck of its mother ship, China’s most advanced deep-sea submersible is on its way to the depths of the central Pacific Ocean in a program that is being closely watched in Asia and the West for its mining and military potential ...

China appears to be increasingly determined to strengthen its presence and control in areas of the South China Sea close to Southeast Asia that it sees as strategically and economically important. The Philippines recently accused Chinese navy and maritime surveillance ships of intruding into ...

As China’s power becomes ever more obvious, especially to neighbors in Asia, Chinese leaders are finding it increasingly difficult to reconcile soothing words with assertive actions. The recent attempt by China’s defense minister to assure Southeast Asian countries and other nations that see the ...

China recently launched an oil and natural gas drilling platform that may be as significant as military modernization in buttressing Beijing’s claims to control most of the islands, water and seabed in the maritime heart of Southeast Asia. Designed to withstand typhoons, the giant ...

Much of central China along the Yangtze River is in the grip of its worst energy crisis in years. The electricity cuts for industry and households have been exacerbated by a five-month drought that has dried up rivers, reducing hydroelectric generating capacity and leaving ...

In the 1970s, the oil and natural gas industry decided to take a leap into the deep. With many of the biggest and cheapest petroleum deposits on land already discovered, the search for new finds went offshore into ever-deeper waters. The move has transformed ...

SINGAPORE — China is already one of the world’s largest offshore energy producers. It wants to become bigger still by finding more oil and natural gas in home waters or in zones close to China, to avoid becoming excessively dependent on foreign imports. However, ...

Japan’s nuclear disaster highlights a contentious and still unresolved issue: how best to manage and dispose of highly radioactive used fuel from reactors that generate electricity. The explosions, fires and radiation leaks at the Fukushima plant not only involve over-heating in some of the ...

SINGAPORE — If China and other Asian nations shy away from atomic power following Japan’s nuclear crisis, would it intensify the impact of climate change on the region? The question is no longer hypothetical. Many governments have already announced reviews or delays of programs ...

SINGAPORE — Before Japan’s nuclear crisis struck, the world appeared to be on the verge of a nuclear renaissance. An increasing number of countries, especially in Asia, were turning to atomic power to provide electricity for rapid economic growth without the carbon emissions that ...