South China Sea - Page 2

Philippine Coast Guard vessels clashed with Chinese naval forces on Monday on the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, which China illegally claims as its own, leaving four Filipino crewmen injured.

The Chinese Communist government sent a threatening message to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., on Tuesday, warning that he was “playing with fire” by congratulating William Lai Ching-te for winning Taiwan’s presidential election over the weekend.

Chinese dictator Xi Jinping paid a visit to Vietnam on Tuesday in an effort to counter growing U.S. influence in the region.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Monday published a gloomy report warning that the U.S. Navy is losing its competitive edge in submarine warfare to China, which went from creaky, noisy, slow-moving subs to ultra-quiet nuclear-powered attack vehicles in under 20 years.

President Joe Biden and Chinese dictator Xi Jinping had their much-touted face-to-face meeting in San Francisco on Wednesday, spending about four hours dining and walking the grounds at the historic Filoli estate.

A Chinese jet fighter closed to within a few feet of a U.S. B-52 bomber aircraft in an act that almost caused a collision over the South China Sea.

China disputed the Philippine Coast Guard’s claim it removed a hazardous floating barrier from a lagoon in the Scarborough Shoal.

Beijing published a “standard map of China,” labeling nearly the entire South China Sea, Taiwan, and large areas of India under its rule.

Naval assets from Australia, Japan, and the U.S. will meet in the South China Sea this week, gathering off the western Philippines to highlight their commitment to the rule of law in the region after a recent show of Chinese aggression in the disputed waters, Filipino security officials said Sunday.

The trilateral summit between the United States, South Korea, and Japan at Camp David, Maryland, on Friday produced several joint statements reaffirming the commitment of the three free nations to stand for Taiwan’s freedom, denuclearize North Korea, keep the Indo-Pacific free, and support human rights.

Chinese officials on Thursday seethed over the trilateral U.S.-South Korea-Japan summit scheduled to be held at Camp David on Friday.

The Philippine military accused China of taking “excessive and offensive actions” against a supply ship on its way to the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea Sunday.

The Philippines Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) announced on Wednesday it will allow the upcoming Barbie film starring Margot Robbie to be released, but only if a “cartoonish” map that resembles China’s “Nine-Dash Line” propaganda map of the South China Sea is digitally blurred out.

Germany announced Monday it is sending sending elite troops to Australia as part of joint drills with some 30,000 service members from 12 other nations. The first-time deployment underlines Berlin’s increased focus on the Indo-Pacific as tensions with China build across the region.

Chinese dictator Xi Jinping paid a visit to the headquarters of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command in Nanjing on Thursday, encouraging his troops to keep up military pressure on Taiwan even as U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was arriving in Beijing for an official visit.

The Philippine government is contemplating a ban of the film “Barbie” over reports it displays China’s “Nine-Dash Line” propaganda map.

Vietnam banned the upcoming film Barbie from theaters on Monday because a scene in the film shows a map with China’s “Nine-Dash Line” in it, a fictitious border the regime in Beijing created that puts almost the entire South China Sea under Chinese control.

The Chinese Communist government on Sunday claimed the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) appropriately handled a “provocative transit” by American and Canadian warships through the Strait of Taiwan on Saturday.

Chinese National Defense Minister Li Shangfu, making his debut on the international stage, told attendees at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Sunday that the communist nation’s military would attack “without any hesitation” against any allies of Taiwan seeking to support the nation’s independence from Beijing.

A study in China’s Journal of Test and Measurement Technology concluded, citing a series of software simulations, that the communist nation’s hypersonic missile technology could destroy the formidable USS Gerald R. Ford carrier fleet by evading the ships’ defense systems, the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over a raucous 20,000-person stadium event in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday evening – a warm welcome to the Hindu nationalist leader in response to his decision to visit the country anyway after Joe Biden canceled a stop there.

The German Navy will continue to build on past deployments into the Indo/Pacific during 2024, sending a frigate and a combat support ship to the troubled region.

U.S. and Philippine pilots launched a joint training exercise called Cope Thunder on Monday, flying together for the first time in over 30 years as a Cold War-era bilateral fighter training program was renewed in the face of Chinese aggression.

Alleged assessments by Pentagon experts exposed in what authorities believe to be a leak by a young National Guard reservist claim that the U.S. military is struggling to monitor Chinese military activity around Taiwan, the Washington Post reported this weekend, because Beijing is using “civilian” ferries for military purposes.

China’s state-run Global Times on Monday argued that China’s menacing combat exercises over the weekend — including a simulated rocket attack on Taiwan that would cause massive civilian casualties if conducted for real — would have a “profound impact on the progress of national reunification.”

Four additional military bases in the Philippines were opened up to U.S. troops on Monday, with one site near the increasingly contested South China Sea and another bordering Taiwan.

China’s regime-controlled news outlet condemned conservative Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio on Monday for daring to visit India while China’s dictator Xi Jinping began a trip to Russia, accusing Kishida of pursuing ambitions “too big for his boots” and lamenting that Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were siphoning media attempt away from Moscow.

The EU wants to step up its naval visits and possibly engage in joint military training exercises in the disputed South China Sea.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who assumed the post only two months ago, held his first annual press conference on Tuesday at the “Two Sessions” of China’s rubber-stamp legislature and policy advisory committee.

The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps began conducting “integrated expeditionary strike force operations” in the South China Sea on Saturday, five days after a Chinese ship fired a military-grade laser at an unarmed Philippine supply ship, temporarily blinding its crew.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Monday accused a Chinese ship of attacking a Philippine ship called BRP Malapascua with a powerful laser during a resupply mission, temporary blinding some of the crew.

After initially denying any knowledge of the huge spy balloon floating over Montana, the Chinese government on Friday claimed it was a “civilian” aircraft intended for “meteorological research” that was blown off course into American airspace.

Philippine Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez announced on Thursday that American forces will be granted more extensive access to Philippine military bases, adding four sites to the five already available to the U.S. for training, equipment storage, and infrastructure upgrades.

The Chinese government newspaper Global Times celebrated radical leftist New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as a “politician who truly understands international politics” on Thursday, following her announcement she would resign next month.

The Supreme Court of the Philippines invalidated a 2005 agreement on Tuesday between the Philippines, Vietnam, and China that would have allowed a Chinese government corporation to explore for oil in Filipino waters, unconstitutionally exploiting the country’s national resources.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., often referred to by his nickname “Bongbong,” made his first visit in office to China this week, holding meetings with dictator Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.