Full coverage: The South China Sea Issue

For more about the military drills and the South China sea issue, we have in the studio Yang Xiyu, senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies.

Q1. China says the drill is merely a routine practice in its own waters, and has little to do with the international tribunal. How should we understand this? Is the timing of this worth attention?

Q2. The South China Sea issue has been making headlines in the past few months, with governments and scholars not directly involved taking sides in the dispute. Why is this issue between China and the Philippines drawing so much attention from the rest of the world?