-(Asia Times 17/12) PLA takes hard line in East China Sea - A dispute within the Chinese leadership seems to be going on over the defense of maritime resources in the East China Sea.

-(Strategy Page 16/12) Chinese Marines - The marines are not stationed where they could be used for an invasion of Taiwan, but in the south, where they can grab disputed islands.

-(Radio Australia 16/12) New report warns of tensions in South China Sea - An Interview with Dr Ian Storey, co-author of Australian Strategic Policy Institute report, fellow at Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore

-(The Diplomat 16/12) China Foreign Policy Shift?; (The Economist 16/12) Great disorder under heaven - China’s disastrous diplomacy betrays the government’s insecurity at home

-(The National Interest 15/12) Does the United States Want Japan to Fight China? - "But I suspect that the Times got the story wrong, or, more likely, was fed bad information by U.S. officials who regularly conceal the true purpose of U.S. foreign policy: namely, to discourage other countries from taking a more active role in their own defense..."

-(RSIS 14/12) Carlyle A. Thayer, Recent Developments in the South China Sea: Grounds for Cautious Optimism? - This paper provides a broad overview of 4 major topics: tensions in China-U.S relations and their implications for Southeast Asia; review multilateral efforts to address the SCS; China-Vietnam interaction in the SCS with a particular focus on China's annual unilateral fishing ban and seizure of Vietnamese fishing boats;  the status of the DOC and progress by the China-ASEAN working group to implement th DOC

-(The National Interest 14/12) Resistance is Futile - "...the administration [U.S] will need a longer-term strategy for managing relations with China: one premised not only on the positive, constructive and cooperative relations with Beijing promised initially by the Obama administration, but also a clear U.S. commitment to sustaining a stable strategic equilibrium in Asia­..."

-(The Wall Street Journal 14/12) China's Changing Economic Leverage - The rare-earth export ban suggests Beijing is using its trade muscle in new and troubling ways. 

-(The Australian 14/12) China reaffirms "peaceful rise" - CHINA'S foreign policy supremo, Dai Bingguo, has delivered a powerful recommitment to China's promise of a "peaceful rise".

-(The Star 13/12) M’sia, Brunei ink historic pact for joint oil exploration (Updated)

-(BBC 13/12) Strength and power in seas off Japan - Joint exercises with Asian allies are also a show of strength, sending a signal that the US still has a lot of sway, not to mention firepower, in this region.

-(The Korea Herald 13/12) [Park Sang-seek] Emergence of new U.S. Asia strategy - North Korea’s outright rejection of the preconditions for the resumption of the six-party talks demanded by the United States and South Korea and development of the uranium enrichment program; its provocative military actions against South Korea; China’s pro-North Korean behavior; the Chinese-Japanese maritime confrontation in the South China Sea; and the China-U.S. financial and trade war.

-(SCMP/Viet-Studies 12/12) China stands firm on Paracels in negotiations with Vietnam - "China made its position very clear at the outset; China occupies the Paracels, they belong to China and there is nothing to negotiate," one official said; (The Manila Times 10/12) Manila, Beijing want peace in Spratlys - A territorial dispute in the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea should be resolved only through peaceful means, top officials of the Philippine government and Chinese military said on Thursday; (PhilStar 9/12) Spratlys row: Beijing claims indisputable sovereignty - China maintained yesterday that it has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly Islands following a report of the construction of a lighthouse on Subi Reef in the disputed areas in the South China Sea.

-(The New York Times 12/12) Japan Plans Military Shift to Focus More on China

-(SCMP/Viet-Studies 12/12) A crucial debate with China at a crossroads