News
-
China is not being ‘aggressive’ in South China Sea claims; it’s the US that has changed its tune
China is not being aggressive so much as protecting the territory it claimed as far back as 1947, then without objection from the US I refer to “US shift on South China Sea ‘grey zone’ aggression signals stronger response ahead” (February 9), on how the United States is expected to take more pre-emptive measures against non-military Chinese vessels in contested…
-
US Navy warships just challenged China with a South China Sea sail-by operation, and Beijing is furious
US Navy guided-missile destroyers and guided-missile cruisers. U.S. Navy photo by Lt.j.g. Caleb Swigart Two US Navy destroyers conducted a freedom-of-navigation operation in the South China Sea on Monday, challenging China’s claims to the Spratly Islands. Beijing accused the US of entering Chinese waters without permission and engaging in provocations that threaten China’s sovereignty. It was the second such US…
-
Britain is ramping up its stand-off with China by deploying its only aircraft carrier to the South China Sea
Britain says it is deploying its flagship aircraft carrier to the South China Sea, with British and US F-35 fighter jets aboard, in the UK’s biggest mission yet to the region. It escalates a tense situation, as China fiercely asserts that the sea is its territory and frames other naval vessels’ sailing there as an assault on its rights. Britain…
-
US “Stirring Up Trouble”, Says China As Warships Sail By South China Sea
The US is “determined to stir up trouble in the South China Sea, create tension and undermine peace”, China said. BEIJING: China on Monday accused the United States of trying to “stir up trouble” by sending two US destroyers near disputed South China Sea islands. The guided-missile destroyers USS Spruance and USS Preble sailed near the Beijing-claimed Spratly Islands earlier…
-
UK to send new aircraft carrier loaded with F35 jets into South China Sea
Britain will send its flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth to the South China Sea. The United Kingdom will deploy its new aircraft carrier, loaded with two squadrons of F-35 aircraft into the politically-fraught South China Sea. British Defense Minister Gavin Williamson confirmed in a speech Monday morning that the Royal Navy’s HMS Queen Elizabeth will sail into waters that are the…
-
US, China upbeat on trade talks, but South China Sea tensions weigh
China struck an upbeat note on Monday as trade talks resumed with the United States, but also expressed anger at a U.S. Navy mission through the disputed South China Sea, casting a shadow over the prospect for improved Beijing-Washington ties. BEIJING/WASHINGTON: U.S. and Chinese officials expressed hopes on Monday that a new round of talks would bring them closer…
-
US ships sail in disputed South China Sea
Observers fear the South China Sea could become a flashpoint for conflict — and the US just made another move likely to anger China. Australia pressured to increase South China Sea military presence Two United States warships have sailed near islands claimed by China in the South China Sea, a US official has told Reuters. The move is likely to…
-
UK to send aircraft carrier to Pacific in show of strength to China
Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, will say today that Britain must be ready “to use hard power” to protect its interests. He will warn that Russia and China are blurring the boundaries between peace and war and declare that Britain must stand up to those who “flout international law”, a principle that “may lead to us intervene ourselves”. “To talk…
-
Both sides silent about foreign friends and foes — and that’s worrisome
Silence is not always golden. What is left unsaid sometimes can be disturbing, even alarming — as it was from both sides of the political aisle during Tuesday’s State of the Union address. During the course of his 82-minute speech, President Trump mentioned only three foreign leaders: North Korea’s Kim Jong Un (with whom he claimed to have a “good…
-
Multinational Hanjin successor for a peaceful South China Sea
A strategic rehabilitation of Hanjin Heavy Industry Corp. by a consortium of multinationals from around the world may be a major step toward a peaceful South China Sea. Rather than strategic competition, the rehabilitation policy of the Philippine government must be for strategic cooperation. This, too, is the spirit of an October 2018 report of a group of experts, including…
-
South China Sea: Navy aims to ramp up China fight
BRITAIN’S new super-carrier should form the centre of a multinational taskforce to challenge Beijing’s stranglehold of the South China Sea, defence sources said last night. It follows a new report by the Henry Jackson Society think tank, backed by senior Admirals, which includes the move as part of a seven-point plan to ensure China holds no control over the vital…
-
Xi Jinping and China’s maritime policy
The ascension of Xi Jinping to the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has often been posited as a turning point for China’s policy in the South and East China Sea maritime disputes. As early as 2013, You Ji of the University of New South Wales assessed that Xi had been “instrumental in changing China’s passivity” into an assertive…