From Graham Flanagan at Business Insider: The US Navy is making its presence known in the heavily disputed South China Sea. It recently deployed two aircraft carriers along with about 140 aircraft and additional ships to conduct training exercises. Read the
Contents: China claims that 60 countries support its South China Sea policy; China cites UNCLOS in disagreement with Japan; South China Sea: Which countries are on China’s side?; Cognitive dissonance and doubling down in China
The Chinese government is touting the support of “dozens” of countries for its illegal colonization of the South China Sea, with particular praise for Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe’s statement opposing the arbitration of China’s territorial dispute in international court.
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
The U.S. Navy has deployed four E/A-18G Growler aircraft and 120 troops have arrived to assist the Philippines with monitoring its sea borders amid continuing tensions over territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Ever since Richard Nixon opened relations with Communist China in 1972, Chinese intentions have been a matter of incessant and often fevered speculation in this country.
London’s thesis is that President Obama is “unwilling to engage the world, in the way in which it really exists.”
Contents: ASEAN makes humiliating South China Sea reversal under pressure from China; Obama administration reevaluates plans for Afghanistan troop withdrawal
Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki summoned China’s ambassador to Japan early Thursday morning to lodge a protest against the passage of a Chinese navy ship through the contiguous zone near the Senkaku Islands, a Japanese territory over which China claims sovereignty.
Dr. Michael Auslin, resident scholar and director of Japan Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, joined Breitbart News Daily with SiriusXM host Stephen K. Bannon to discuss his recent article, “The Next U.S. President Must Carry a Big Stick.”
Following rumors that the government of China is considering establishing an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over disputed territories in the South China Sea, Taiwan’s new defense minister confirmed the island would not respect such a zone if Beijing attempts to impose it.
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 reports that the Chinese navy will send five ships to participate in the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC), a massive international maritime drill held every two years in Hawaii.
(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.”
Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton did not think much of President Obama’s much-touted “pivot to Asia,” as expressed during his appearance on Thursday’s Breitbart News Daily with SiriusXM host Stephen K. Bannon.
Contents: New Taiwan poll shows overwhelming support for independence from China; China close to imposing an air defense ID zone (ADIZ) in South China Sea
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.
After months of expanding its military capabilities in the South China Sea, the Chinese military is preparing to deploy nuclear-armed submarines to the Pacific Ocean, according to a report published Thursday in The Guardian.
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.
President Barack Obama’s visit to Vietnam, in which he announced the end of an embargo on arms sales to the southeast Asian country, is an attempt to destabilize the region that exposes Washington’s lack of interest in human rights, according to Chinese state-controlled media.
While visiting Vietnam, President Obama announced the lifting of a ban on the sale of military equipment, which has been in place since the end of the Vietnam War.
Dr. Herbert London of the London Center for Policy Research joined SiriusXM host Stephen K. Bannon on Tuesday’s edition of Breitbart News Daily to present his evaluation of a world in chaos due to the withdrawal of American power.
The Pentagon has revealed that at least two Chinese Shenyang J-11 fighter jets intercepted an American EP-3 reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea on Tuesday. The U.S. plane was on a routine mission in international airspace.
Contents: China says Pentagon report on China military ‘severely damages’ relations; Pentagon documents massive China buildup, but omits ‘Maritime Militia’
On Friday, the Pentagon released a report documenting a rapid Chinese military buildup in the South China Sea, with an emphasis on China’s construction of artificial island fortresses. China responded on Saturday, expressing “strong dissatisfaction” with the Pentagon report.
On Tuesday, the USS William P. Lawrence, a guided-missile cruiser, sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Fiery Cross Reef, which is occupied by China, in a deliberate challenge to China’s aggressive territorial claims.
“It is a very dangerous time, particularly when adversaries, or at least competitors, like China, and adversaries like North Korea, see American weakness. The danger of miscalculation is enormous,” John Bolton warns.
A private group in Taiwan has filed to intervene in a case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, asserting that at least one territory in the South China Sea belongs to neither the Philippines nor China, but to the “Republic of China,” Taiwan.
Center for Security Policy founder Frank Gaffney joined SiriusXM host Stephen K. Bannon on Breitbart News Daily Wednesday morning to discuss the irony of President Obama’s trip to Hiroshima to “bray about the need to rid the world of nuclear weapons,” while Obama’s policies have done nothing but encourage their proliferation.
The Chinese have struck a deal with the nation of Djibouti to build a military base in close proximity to a critical American military base on the Horn of Africa.
Following the cancelation of a similar exercise in April, a U.S. Navy missile destroyer has completed a voyage within 12 nautical miles of Fiery Cross Reef, a contested territory in the South China Sea. Beijing responded by demanding the ship leave the area “a dozen times,” CNN reports.
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.
The Chinese government has sent folk singer Song Zuying to Fiery Cross Reef, a disputed territory in the South China Sea, to perform patriotic songs and begin a tour of the region titled “The People’s Army Advances.”
Contents: Israel to open another truck crossing to the Gaza Strip; Report: Hamas, Israel and Egypt in alliance fighting ISIS; Laos sides with China in South China Sea dispute
Japan’s Nikkei Asian Review reports Monday that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s confrontational attitude towards visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida over the weekend has been “deeply irritating” to high-level Japanese officials.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida left for a visit to China on Friday, in the opening bid to restore a damaged relationship between the two nations, even as the South China Sea grows increasingly tense.
China is making at least one gesture to de-escalate tensions in the South China Sea: it announced on Thursday that it would send a missile destroyer, and a dozen special-forces troops, to joint exercises with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, India, and the United States.
Tensions in the South China Sea continue slowly mounting, as China has denied the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis permission to make a port call in Hong Kong.
“Relax. I am not the man portrayed to be by some,” Philippines presidential frontrunner and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte told a room full of business leaders before offering details of his Viagra use and vowing a “bloody” presidency.
