The Chinese military claimed on Thursday that it monitored and “warned off” an American warship, the guided missile destroyer USS Milius, after it “illegally entered” waters claimed by China around the Paracel Islands.
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) released video footage Wednesday of its members conducting beach landing drills near the South China Sea’s disputed Paracel Islands days after Taiwan’s military simulated a defensive response to a Chinese attack on its reefs.
A non-governmental organization called South China Sea Chronicle Initiative (SCSCI) published satellite photos on Wednesday that show China building a surface-to-air missile base near the Vietnamese border.
The U.S. Navy announced its latest Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) in the South China Sea on Friday, as the guided missile destroyer USS John S. McCain “asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands, consistent with international law.” China claimed air and naval units of its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “tracked, monitored, and warned off” the American ship.
China launched military drills in four separate seas on Monday — Two are being held in the South China Sea near the disputed Paracel Islands, one in the East China Sea, and one in the northern Bohai Sea, while live-fire drills are scheduled in the southern Yellow Sea.
Chinese state media on Friday claimed the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) “expelled” an American destroyer, the USS Mustin, from the South China Sea near the Xisha Islands, known in the West as the Paracel Islands.
China says it has neared completion in building a 450-foot-long search and rescue (SAR) ship, the largest SAR ship in the world, according to Beijing, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on Wednesday.
Officials in Vietnam accused China of having “seriously violated” the country’s sovereignty in the South China Sea, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Monday.
Three U.S. warships in the South China Sea have been joined by a frigate supplied by ally Australia to patrol an area where a Chinese vessel is suspected to be illegally exploring for oil, officials said Wednesday.
A Vietnamese fishing boat with eight crew members on board was sunk after being hit by a Chinese ship near Vietnam’s Paracel Islands, local authorities said on Friday.
Chinese state media on Tuesday rather unsubtly decided this would be a good time to chat with a panel of “experts” about the possibility of using an electromagnetic pulse weapon (EMP) against American ships that enter portions of the South China Sea illegally claimed by Beijing. The timing suggests it was a bit of saber-rattling by a Communist Party nervous about its power and prestige after the Wuhan virus disaster, but some degree of escalation in the South China Sea has long been a concern for the U.S. Navy and ships from across the free world.
China warned Britain against becoming more active in the South China Sea, saying any deployment of the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth near the contested Spratly Islands could be seen as a “hostile action.”
Chinese forces based on disputed islands in the South China Sea announced over the weekend that an area also claimed by the Philippines would be closed to outside traffic for five days to accommodate a military drill. The U.S. military detected “concerning” tests of anti-ship missiles during the drill.
The destroyer USS McCampbell conducted a Freedom of Navigation Patrol (FONOP) on Monday that brought it within 12 nautical miles of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.
The Chinese state publication China Daily announced the beginning of construction on Wednesday of what it referred to as “a complex of facilities for research” on Hainan island in the South China Sea intended to conserve the “historical heritage in the South China Sea.”
A study published Tuesday revealed satellite photos of a “modest” new Chinese structure of unknown use in the Paracel Islands of the South China Sea, signs that China has continued to construct facilities in the region despite an international court ruling finding the development illegal.
A group of over 100 Chinese tourists swarmed Yagong Island, in the disputed Paracel Island chain of the South China Sea, this weekend for a “flag-raising ceremony” to assert China’s sovereignty over the region.
Vietnamese users of Facebook were outraged last week to discover a map on the social media platform that depicted the Paracel and Spratly islands in the South China Sea as Chinese territory, even though Vietnam also has territorial claims in both island chains.
A report published Wednesday, as the Chinese Foreign Ministry asserted it was “not scared” of a growing U.S. presence in the region, suggests China has withdrawn some of its missile systems in the South China Sea.
Two American warships, the guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins and the missile cruiser USS Antietam, conducted a freedom of navigation patrol near Woody Island in the South China Sea on Sunday – the same island in the Paracels chain where China landed nuclear-capable long-range bombers for the first time last week.
China reportedly landed one of its H-6K heavy bombers on Woody Island in the Paracels late last week, increasing concerns about Chinese militarization of disputed islands in the South China Sea, prompting a complaint and “appropriate diplomatic action” from the Philippines.
Chinese Communist Party leader traveled to the South China Sea on Thursday to preside over what state media are calling “the country’s largest ever maritime military parade,” a series of exercises meant to intimidate rival powers in a region where Beijing has illegally colonized foreign territory.
China’s foreign ministry vociferously protested the presence of the USS Chafee near the Paracel Islands on Tuesday, a naval warship conducting a “freedom of navigation” exercise in international waters that Beijing insists fall under Chinese control.
Vietnam condemned Chinese live-fire military drills near disputed islands in the South China Sea this week, but the complaint was dismissed by a Chinese official who implied Hanoi was acting irrationally.
Contents: China builds illegal surface-to-air missile sites in South China Sea; Xi Jinping threatens Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters with ‘Red Line’
A report updated this week suggests that China has continued to build advanced military facilities on illegally-seized reefs and artificial islands in the South China Sea, as the anniversary of an international tribunal ruling against China on the matter nears.
U.S. Pacific Command head Admiral Harry Harris vowed to prevent China from “closing down” the South China Sea in a speech on Wednesday, confirming that Australia would allow the U.S. to fly fighter planes out of its territory to help keep the region free.
With main objector Philippines placated, Vietnam is taking the mantle of opposition to China’s colonization of the South China Sea, with a new report indicating that it has begun dredging land in the Spratly Island chain.
Contents: Philippines to reject US use of its bases for South China Sea patrols; China says its South China Sea military buildup is a boon to the world; Vietnam and Australia reject China’s claims
Japan’s defense minister announced in Washington Thursday that the nation is seeking to participate in joint maritime exercises with the United States in the South China Sea, a direct challenge to China’s repeated demands for Japan to stay out of the region.
The fallout from Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s very public insults towards President Barack Obama continues. Russia, previously silent on China’s creeping invasion of Philippine territory in the South China Sea, has now issued a statement supporting Beijing.
U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson confirmed Wednesday that the Navy will continue to execute operations in the South China Sea and has no intent to leave the region, despite a relentless onslaught of Chinese propaganda urging America to eliminate its presence in the region entirely.
The Chinese government has ordered its propaganda outlets in high gear to denounce a decision against their territorial claims in the South China Sea by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, calling the case “null and void” because it
Contents: China’s ‘ironclad proof’ of South China Sea claims revealed as hoax; The craziness of China’s claims in South China Sea; France calls for European navies to patrol the South China Sea; A request to readers: Protect the Generational Dynamics legacy
Secretary of State John Kerry, visiting Mongolia on his way to China, warned Beijing Sunday that declaring an air defense zone over the South China Sea to be a “provocative and destabilizing act.”
(Reuters) China rebuffed U.S. pressure to curb its activity in the South China Sea on Sunday, restating its sovereignty over most of the disputed territory and saying it “has no fear of trouble.”
A report in the South China Morning Post cites Chinese sources as stating that Beijing is preparing to impose an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the South China Sea, which would require all aircraft to allow China to track their movements in the region, even over the sovereign territory of other nations.
The Chinese government is sounding the alarm on widespread destruction of coral reefs in the South China Sea, arguing that, as “owners” of the region’s disputed territories, it is Beijing’s responsibility to keep them safe. China’s protests ignore years of government construction of artificial islands and Chinese poaching that have ravaged the region.
The Philippines has a new president: an aggressively anti-crime mayor who has vowed to jet-ski to the disputed territories of the South China Sea and personally plant a Filipino flag. China’s state media have reacted to Rodrigo Duterte’s election with an invite to “win-win cooperation” – coupled with a threat that it will respond in kind to any “blackmail” regarding its colonization of Philippine territory.
A Philippine nationalist youth group is accusing the government of China of poisoning large swathes of the South China Sea to prevent Philippine and other foreign fishermen from benefiting from the waters’ resources, in an attempt to cement its control over the region.
