The Philippine Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that a swarm of hundreds of Chinese fishing boats around a South China Sea island claimed by Manila is a clear violation of the sovereign territory of the Philippines.
China’s Foreign Ministry expressed “strong dissatisfaction” on Monday after two U.S. warships sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in a Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP).
China’s Ministry of Natural Resources on Tuesday announced an initiative to repair damage to coral reefs inflicted by its dubiously legal development of disputed islands in the South China Sea’s Spratly chain.
Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Friday his government will protect its interests in the South China Sea – or, as Manila prefers, the West Philippine Sea – despite Chinese aggression in the region, promising that Philippine ships would continue to patrol the area and troops will continue to be stationed in the Spratly Islands.
China has flooded parts of the Philippines with “fishing vessels” that in reality serve as parts of a sprawling paramilitary intended to give Beijing control of the entire South China Sea, the Philippine Star reported on Monday.
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.
The governments of Vietnam and the Philippines diverged significantly in their reactions to news that China has begun operating weather stations on their territory in the South China Sea. Vietnam released an outraged statement condemning China on Thursday, while Manila refused to condemn without “proof.”
U.S. defense officials have confirmed a Chinese warship performed “unsafe and unprofessional” maneuvers in the South China Sea on Sunday, coming perilously close to an American destroyer and forcing the U.S. Navy ship to change course in order to avoid a collision.
President Rodrigo Duterte claims he quarreled with China after the Chinese military tried to drive away Philippine Navy planes flying over the disputed South China Sea last month.
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.
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.
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 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 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.
The Pentagon announced on Wednesday it has disinvited China from participating in the upcoming Rim of the Pacific Exercise, in a major sign of tension between the U.S. and Chinese militaries.
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.
James Delingpole and British MP Daniel Kawczynski discuss potential successors to British Prime Minister Theresa May. Among their favorites are MPs Jacob Rees Mogg and Priti Patel. Also, James and Kawczynski weigh in on Brexit, Poland, and the changes in Saudi Arabia.
The Philippines is reportedly looking to lodge a protest against China’s alleged presence of two military aircraft on a Chinese-built island in the South China Sea.
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.
The USS Mustin American destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands on Friday, prompting an angry statement from Beijing claiming that China has “indisputable sovereignty” over the islands and accusing the United States of “harming regional peace and stability” with its patrols.
Contents: Report that Russia is helping the Taliban in Afghanistan contains delusional aspects; US warship sails near China’s illegal artificial island in the South China Sea
The Philippine Daily Inquirer on Monday published photos showing the breathtaking extent of Chinese military construction on disputed reefs in the Spratly Islands area of the South China Sea. The Inquirer presents the aerial photography as evidence that China is almost finished transforming the reefs into “island fortress” for the purpose of controlling the entire region.
The government of the Philippines announced on Tuesday that it would lodge a formal diplomatic protest with China over its construction of an airbase on the disputed Fiery Cross Reef, part of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
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.
The latest freedom of navigation patrol for the U.S. Navy in the South China Sea brought the destroyer USS John S. McCain to within 12 nautical miles of a Chinese artificial island off the Philippine coast on Thursday.
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.
