As the chair of ASEAN in its fiftieth year, the Philippines has a unique opportunity to shine a spotlight on Southeast Asia’s most pressing political and security challenges. No stranger to the difficulties in the South China Sea, the Philippines is seeing new evolutions to its trials: first, in the form of Chinese vessels loitering… Read More

Gregory Poling, Director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative China can increasingly project power throughout the South China Sea thanks to its new dual-use bases in the Spratly Islands and upgraded facilities in the Paracels. Beijing remains firmly committed to securing extensive but ill-defined “historic rights” throughout the nine-dash line in contravention of international law.… Read More

Dindo Manhit, President of the Stratbase ADR Institute for Strategic and International Studies Last week, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) released its 2017 outlook for the region. The Philippine economy is expected to grow by 6.4% in 2017—a moderate pace that is still faster than several economies in the region. The ADB underscored, however, that… Read More

Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) vessels maintain a near-constant presence at Luconia Shoals off the coast of Malaysia’s Sarawak State. That uncomfortable fact does not garner much attention, either in the Malaysian or international press, but it speaks to Beijing’s determination to establish administrative control throughout the nine-dash line. The reefs, which are divided into the… Read More

Stratbase ADR Institute, Inc. (ADRi) hosted yesterday a roundtable discussion entitled, “Infrastructure and Economic Growth: The Philippine Experience”. The roundtable started with the presentation of Dr. Epictetus Patalinghug of his Special Study with the same title. Dr. Patalinghug provided us with his analysis on the relationship between infrastructure and economic growth. To put the discussion… Read More

Dindo Manhit, President of the Stratbase ADR Institute for Strategic and International Studies Although trade has played an important role in advancing economic growth, it has since lost its dynamism. Asian economies, however, have continued to liberalise its markets. Asia will now serve as the backbone of stability amidst the growing clamour for protectionism around… Read More

Dr. Renato de Castro, Stratbase ADRi Trustee Prior to his departure for his official visit to Myanmar on March 19, 2017, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte betrayed his foreign policy scheme in the face of China’s expansion in the South China Sea to a group of journalists.  When a journalist asked him about China’s reported plan… Read More