Tag - disputed-islands

 
 

DISPUTED ISLANDS

Protesters in Makati City, Metro Manila, hold a rally over the Philippines' territorial disputes with China outside the Chinese Consulate in June 2015. ASEAN, despite five of its members claiming parts of the South China Sea, doesn’t back Manila in its standoff with Beijing.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 13, 2025
ASEAN hedges as the South China Sea bubbles over
One would think ASEAN, with five of its members claiming parts of the South China Sea, would support the Philippines’ quest for a peaceful, legal resolution. You’d be wrong.
Joo Ho-young, head of a suprapartisan league of South Korean lawmakers working to promote friendship with Japan, speaks during an interview on Tuesday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 12, 2025
South Korean politician urges Tokyo to address Takeshima matter calmly
Joo Ho-young, head of a suprapartisan league of lawmakers working to promote friendship with Japan, said the issue easily infuriates South Korean people.
Display panels about the Senkaku Islands at the National Museum of Territory and Sovereignty in Tokyo on Wednesday
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2025
Japan to display past Chinese records on Senkaku Islands
Some of the records will be displayed on exhibition panels at the National Museum of Territory and Sovereignty in Tokyo.
Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 31, 2025
Russia says peace talks with Japan only possible if Tokyo abandons ‘anti-Russian course’
Soviet troops took control of four islands off Hokkaido at the end of World War II.
A China Coast Guard ship fires a water cannon at a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries vessel during an incident in disputed waters of the South China Sea on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 12, 2025
China and Philippines trade blame over boat collision in disputed sea
Confrontations between Philippine and Chinese vessels occur frequently in the contested South China Sea.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung before their meeting in Busan, South Korea, on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 1, 2025
Japan and South Korea tout stable ties, but concerns rise over Ishiba’s replacement
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung looked to regularize “shuttle diplomacy,” but much may hinge on Japan’s next leader.
Visitors look at a model of the China's Fujian aircraft carrier at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, China, last November.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 16, 2025
China offers latest hint that newest aircraft carrier could soon enter service
Observers say that a commissioning ceremony could come as early as next month, though training for carrier-based aircraft must still be conducted.
A China Coast Guard ship navigates near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea in August.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 16, 2025
China says Philippine ship ‘deliberately rammed’ coast guard vessel in South China Sea
The clash near the flash point Scarborough Shoal, which is also claimed by Manila, came just days after Beijing approved plans to turn the area into a national nature reserve.
Sailors aboard the U.S. Navy's guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn conduct a small boat operation during a "Maritime Cooperative Activity" with the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Osumi tank-landing ship and the Philippine Navy's Jose Rizal frigate in the South China Sea on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 14, 2025
Beijing denounces joint U.S.-Japan-Philippines patrol of South China Sea
China criticized the joint trilateral exercises, alleging that Manila has “frequently colluded with non-regional countries” to organize the patrols.
A reporter records video over Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea in February 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 13, 2025
U.S. rejects China nature reserve plan in South China Sea area near Philippines
The U.S. called China’s plan to create a national nature reserve at Scarborough Shoal in the disputed sea area "destabilizing.”
A Chinese Navy ship speeds past a Philippine fishing boat while the Philippine, Australia and Canadian navies conduct a joint drill near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sept. 2.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 10, 2025
Manila working on new protocols for dealing with Beijing in South China Sea
As tensions heat up in the waterway, the Philippines is updating its existing rules of engagement as part of a whole-of-government approach.
A Philippine Navy sailor looks at a China Coast Guard vessel just off the coast of Pag-asa Island in the disputed South China Sea last month.
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Sep 1, 2025
Surrounded by Chinese bases, a tiny Philippine island stands firm
Pag-asa Island — population 400 — sits on the front line of a simmering territorial dispute between Beijing and Manila in the flash point South China Sea.
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2025
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
A decision is expected in the “coming months,” a senior government official in Manila said, following an inspection of the Abukuma-class destroyer escorts.
Japan has lodged a protest with China over the latter's unilateral development of gas fields in disputed waters between both countries.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 26, 2025
Tokyo lodges protests with Beijing over gas field in East China Sea
Japan says China is unilaterally setting up drilling rigs in the area where their exclusive economic zone claims overlap.
This handout video grab released and taken on Monday by the Philippine Coast Guard shows a Chinese Coast Guard ship with a damaged bow following an incident with a Chinese Navy vessel, as seen from a Philippine fisheries boat near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 13, 2025
China's military says it 'drove away' U.S. destroyer near Scarborough Shoal
The shoal has been a major source of tension in the South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce.
This handout video grab released and taken on August 11, 2025 by the Philippine Coast Guard shows an incident between a Chinese Navy vessel (left) and a Chinese Coast Guard ship as seen from a Philippine fisheries boat near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 11, 2025
Chinese vessels collide while pursuing Philippine boat in South China Sea
Video released by Manila showed a China Coast Guard ship and a much larger vessel bearing the number 164 on its hull colliding with a loud crash.
An Indian Naval officer stands behind Philippine and Indian flags at the international port of Manila on Friday. India's naval vessels arrived in Manila for a port visit late last week.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 4, 2025
Philippine and Indian navies begin first joint South China Sea patrols
The Philippines has heightened defense cooperation with a range of allies over the past year after a series of clashes in the South China Sea.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas attends a meeting in Brussels on July 14.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 23, 2025
China singled out at EU-Japan summit
The two sides reiterated their opposition to “any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion” in the East and South China seas.
Kunashiri, one of the four islands seized by Russia in the last days of World War II, is visible from the Shiretoko Peninsula in northeastern Hokkaido.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Jul 22, 2025
Ex-residents of Russian-controlled islands off Hokkaido want grave-site visits resumed
Now in their advanced years, the former residents want the visits to be restored for them to honor their ancestors whose grave sites are located on the four islands.
Former residents of Russian-held islands claimed by Japan hold a memorial service aboard the exchange ship Etopirika, which arrived off Kunashiri, part of the Northern Territories, on Sunday.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2025
Ex-residents of Japan-claimed isles hold memorial at sea
Former Japanese residents of the Russian-held islands cannot return to their hometowns because exchange programs between the two countries have been suspended.

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An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo