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.
President Barack Obama appeared to receive a warm welcome from the Vietnamese, with hundreds lining the streets to celebrate the American president’s visit. Excluded from the festivities, however, were political dissidents, often silenced in the communist country.
During his trip to Vietnam this week, President Obama informed the country’s top female rapper that sexism and gender stereotyping is a feature of the American music industry, just as it is in Vietnam.
President Barack Obama joked that people shouldn’t believe everything they read on the internet after student at a town hall meeting asked him about smoking weed.
Obama spoke about the elections during a town hall meeting in Vietnam, with Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative students. But the president said American politics didn’t reflect the decency of the American people.
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.
President Barack Obama met with tech entrepreneurs in Vietnam today, praising them for striking out to create their own businesses.
President Barack Obama continued his administration’s tepid response to China’s multiple violations and incursions in the South China Sea during a press conference in Vietnam today.
Contents: China says Pentagon report on China military ‘severely damages’ relations; Pentagon documents massive China buildup, but omits ‘Maritime Militia’
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.
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.
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
The Rev. Daniel Berrigan, a Jesuit priest famous for his anti-war and anti-capitalism protests, died Saturday in New York at the age of 94.
Pentagon officials confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that they had canceled a “freedom of navigation” exercise planned for April that was intended to make a statement against China’s growing colonization of the region.
Four U.S. Marine veterans, who fought together during the Vietnam War, reunited for the first time in 50 years last weekend to recreate an iconic moment they had captured on camera in their youth, the Naples Daily News reports.
A Chinese state-run newspaper is touting the development of “maritime nuclear platforms” for use in the South China Sea, where China is claiming most of waters belonging to five other nations.
The Chinese government is fighting off protests from American officials that it landed a military plane on Fiery Cross Reef, a disputed territory both Vietnam and the Philippines claim, alleging the flight was necessary to save a worker having a medical emergency.
Contents: Nigeria’s Boko Haram releases ‘proof of life’ video of abducted Chibok girls; Russians brag about ‘aerobatic skills’ of Russian pilots buzzing US ship; US Navy conducting joint patrols with Philippines in South China Sea
The Pentagon has announced that American forces will conduct surveillance patrols with the Philippines “regularly” in the South China Sea, as Defense Secretary Ashton Carter concludes his trip to Manila to assert America’s commitment to protect the Philippines from Chinese expansionism in the region.
Contents: Japanese warships make historic port call to Vietnam; China deploys fighter jets to South China Sea; Russian fighter ‘strafing runs’ at US ship in Baltic Sea called ‘showboating’
New satellite images show the Chinese government has added fighter jets to its fleet in the Paracel Islands, a South China Sea chain that Vietnam and the Philippines claim. This development comes as U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter lands in Manila to show his support for the Philippines against Chinese expansionism in the region.
Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter will visit a U.S. military site near disputed territory in the South China Sea this week, according to a senior U.S. official that described the visit as “a message to the region about our commitment to peace and stability there.”
Chinese media outlet Xinhua has confirmed that a third illegally constructed lighthouse in the South China Sea is now fully operational. The lighthouse is located on the artificial island formerly known as Subi Reef and equipped with “automatic identification systems” that significantly expand China’s surveillance capabilities.
Vietnamese officials have seized a Chinese ship and arrested its crew after it wandered into Vietnamese waters in the South China Sea, the latest in a string of similar seizures of trespassing Chinese ships around the globe. In addition to not being able to justify their presence in Vietnam, the Qiong Yangpu’s crew refused to identify the origin of their cargo: 100,000 liters of diesel fuel.
A Chinese defense ministry spokesman warned the United States to “be careful” in the South China Sea following declarations from American Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work that the U.S. would not respect a unilaterally imposed exclusion zone in the disputed territory.
Following the arrest of the crew of a Chinese ship allegedly fishing illegally in its waters, the government of Indonesia is facing regional criticism for shooting at two Taiwanese ships that it also alleges had trespassed into Indonesian territory. The recent incidents are helping to raise Indonesia’s profile as a formidable player in growing tensions in the South China Sea.
China is accusing a group of Philippine fishermen of attacking Chinese Coast Guard ships with fire bombs after the Chinese ships chased them out of disputed waters in the South China Sea, waters the Philippines considers its sovereign territory.
After a dramatic incident at sea that resulted in the arrest of a Chinese fishing crew trespassing in the waters of Indonesia, China protested Indonesia had no right to intervene on what has long been a “traditional Chinese fishing ground.”
A pop star known for her pink hair and controversial outfit choices is the biggest name on a long list of independent legislative candidates in Vietnam, hoping through sheer numbers to force the Communist Party to accept dissidence in the National Assembly.
In a joint statement, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his counterpart President Taur Matan Ruak of East Timor noted their “serious concern” that the Chinese government is expanding its control over disputed territory in the South China Sea too aggressively.
The Coast Guard of Argentina sunk a Chinese fishing ship trespassing into Argentine waters on Tuesday, after the trawler responded to calls to return to international waters by trying to ram into a Coast Guard vessel, according to the South American government.
The Malaysian government is seeking to expand cooperation with Australia to combat China’s expansive construction projects in the South China Sea, suggesting Beijing’s behavior in the region demands “pushback” from relevant parties.
Dozens of Vietnamese citizens congregated in their capital, Hanoi, to commemorate the anniversary of a battle against China in the South China Sea and demand that Beijing withdraw its presence in the contested Spratly and Paracel Islands.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper warned in a letter to Sen. John McCain this week that he expects China to boast “substantial offensive military power” in the illegally-occupied territories of the South China Sea by the end of this year or the beginning of 2017.
Without mentioning any nations in particular, the Defense Minister of Taiwan, Kao Kuang-chi, told the nation’s legislature that he is concerned with the growing presence of military weapons and facilities in the South China Sea, where Taiwan makes multiple territorial claims.
