The Lowy Interpreter
Op-Ed: Transparency Alone Won't Deter China in the South China Sea
[By Charmaine Misalucha-Willoughby] On 10 October, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) reported that 22...
Op-Ed: An America-First Approach in Yemen
[By Grace Wermenbol] On May 6, 2025, following a weeks-long bombardment on Houthi targets in Yemen, US President Donald Trump decl...
Op-Ed: Elbridge Colby's S. China Sea Reassurance Deepens Manila's Trilemma
[By Richard Javad Heydarian] The festering conflict in the Strait of Hormuz coupled with the stubborn military deadlock in Ukraine...
Scarborough Shoal and the Philippines’ Paper Trail in the South China Sea
In the South China Sea, power is usually measured in ships, patrols and presence. In July, the Philippines opened a quieter front:...
Global Ocean Protection is No Simple Equation
The global ambition to protect 30 percent of the world’s land and ocean by 2030 – known simply as “30x30” – has helped galvanize g...
Op-Ed: Three Countries Could Scuttle WTO's Fishing-Subsidy Limit Agreement
More than 600 million people around the world seek to make their living through fishing or from processing the catch. Most of thos...
Technology is Making the Pacific's Drug Highway Harder to Detect
In the global narcotics trade, transnational criminal networks are consolidating their hold on the Pacific drug highway. Technolog...
China is Remaking the South China Sea With a Return to Island-Building
[By Lowell Bautista] After nearly a decade of relative pause, China has resumed large-scale island-building in the South China Sea...
Indonesia Discovered a Subsea Spy Drone. Is it Legally a Ship?
[By Dita Liliansa] Indonesian fishers found a torpedo-like object in the waters north of Gili Trawangan, Lombok, on April 6. The e...
Iran Crisis Puts China's UN Diplomacy to the Test
[By Courtney J. Fung and Andrea Ghiselli] China and Russia this week vetoed a UN Security Council Resolution on the Strait of Horm...