Contents: New Pentagon military assessment details China’s preparations for war; China’s ‘low-intensity coercion’ in the South China Sea; People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM); China’s preparations for war with Taiwan; The growing military threat from China
The Pentagon’s annual report on Chinese military and security developments warns that China is building up a fleet of long-range nuclear-capable bombers and is “likely” training its pilots to attack American targets.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry replied to a warning from Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte this week by reminding Manila that Beijing is comfortable taking “necessary steps” against ships it believes are sailing near Chinese territory in the South China Sea, the ministry said on Thursday.
A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance plane, which was carrying a CNN news team on board Friday, flew past a series of artificial islands known as the Spratly Chain in the South China Sea. The plane reportedly received at least six separate warnings from the Chinese military to leave the area.
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs Randall Schriver said the Navy will continue to challenge China in the South China Sea.
China’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Friday denying allegations that its financial assistance programs for Pacific nations are an effort to buy political influence and muscle out regional competitors, especially Taiwan. The Foreign Ministry insisted China’s $5.9 billion in pledged foreign aid comes with no strings attached.
China’s aggressive territorial claims in the South China Sea are generally viewed in the context of a security threat to the freedom of navigation and political warfare against Asian nations with competing territorial claims, but a report published this week by the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute of Singapore reveals a massive cash grab as well. China’s state-controlled industries are planning to make a great deal of money from those disputed islands and reefs.
A Chinese government official said on Friday that the United States should not have “official contact in any form” or maintain military relations with Taiwan. This demand was issued two days after the U.S. Senate passed a bill calling for increased high-level military and civilian government contacts with Taiwan.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has accepted an invitation to conduct a “joint maritime exercises” with the communist government of China, likely in the South China Sea waters between China and their nations, Singapore confirmed on Friday.
China donated four military boats and 30 rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) to the Philippines, the Philippine government announced Monday.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said on Wednesday that the incoming government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad intends to take a firmer stand against Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.
The communist government of Vietnam convicted ten people on Monday of having participated in protests against China in the last month, sentencing them to up to three and a half years in prison for allegedly triggering violent mass outbursts around the country.
Large red banners reading “Welcome to the Philippines, Province of China” mysteriously appeared on bridges throughout the nation’s capital Manila on Thursday, the second anniversary of an international legal ruling that declared China’s presence in Philippine territory in the South China Sea was illegal.
A large majority of Filipinos want President Rodrigo Duterte to assert the country’s territorial claims against China in the South China Sea, according to a survey released on Thursday.
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – Three decades ago, one of the twentieth century’s most flagrant atrocities took place. Strangely, offender and victim both remained silent.
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.
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis became the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit Japan on Friday, offering reassurances that America’s commitment to regional security remains firm and promising that Japanese kidnapping victims will not be forgotten during negotiations with North Korea.
Communist China’s navy released a propaganda video showing off its naval capabilities in frustration over America’s decision not to invite Beijing to the annual U.S.-led Pacific joint military drill and “naval keg party,” known as the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPCA), Task & Purpose reported this week.
Although Chinese media strove to portray Communist Party leader Xi Jinping’s meeting with visiting U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis as polite and productive, the condescending tone of its coverage paints a picture of Xi delivering a lecture on China’s sacred territorial rights while Mattis listened quietly.
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday. “We cannot lose even one inch of the territory left behind by our ancestors. What is other people’s, we do not want at all,” Xi informed his American guest.
China’s state-run Global Times lectured U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis to keep his mouth shut and ears open during his first official visit to China this week, riffing on Mattis’s own modest comment that he flew to Beijing for a “conversation.”
The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan completed a patrol of disputed waters in the South China Sea and anchored in Manila Bay on Tuesday, marking the third U.S. carrier patrol of the region in 2018.
A little over a month into his administration, Malaysia’s 92-year-old Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed addressed the matter of Chinese territorial aggression in the South China Sea by recommending the use of “small boats” instead of “warships” to hold Beijing at bay.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) conducted a competitive mine warfare exercise in the East China Sea last week. The exercise was intended to help the Chinese military both become more adept at clearing minefields and more skilled at creating them.
China’s state media announced Friday that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had executed a military drill in the South China Sea testing target drones in an aerial attack simulation.
China’s state media continued dismissing the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un on Thursday in a piece ostensibly meant to attack American media, but that described the summit’s results as “a vague four-point joint statement with no timetable or roadmap.”
An American student of Vietnamese descent was arrested in Binh Thuan, located east of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Sunday for participating in a peaceful protest against China, which turned violent after police started clashing with demonstrators.
China’s state media expressed concern over growing “nationalism” by “a few Vietnamese radicals” Tuesday after a weekend of anti-Chinese protests swept the nation.
Contents: Vietnam government surprised by widespread anti-China and anti-government protests; Anti-government protests grow in Vietnam along with anti-China protests
Satellite images taken on Friday revealed that China has returned surface-to-air missiles to Woody Island in the Paracels, restoring them to exactly the same positions they occupied before tensions with the United States prompted Beijing to withdraw the weapons.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s regular briefing Wednesday featured yet another tirade against the president of U.S. military assets in the South China Sea, which have increased operations to keep the region free of Chinese colonization in the past year.
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.
The United States flew two B-52 bombers near the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea on Monday following several similar displays to respond to China’s militarization of the region.
China’s state-run Global Times did its part to put Beijing at the table with President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un via an editorial Monday stating it is “essential” for China to be involved in any peace deal that officially ends the Korean War.
Multiple “Western and Asian” officials told Reuters in a report published Sunday that the United States is seeking to expand its Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs) in the South China Sea to respond to growing belligerence from China.
