On Thursday, Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano suggested the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should reach a “gentlemen’s agreement” on South China Sea waterways because there is no legal authority to enforce a binding contract for navigation through the region.
The UK Daily Mail cites Chinese media reports that “anti-frogman” rocket launchers have been installed on a disputed South China Sea island to keep Vietnamese divers at bay.
Contents: Japan’s largest warship, the JS Izumo, will escort and defend a US supply ship; Japan moves from ‘self-defense’ to ‘collective self-defense’
Contents: Philippines President Duterte seeks to appease China at ASEAN meeting; The phrase ‘Code of Conduct’ is the new code word for appeasement
China launched a 50,000-ton aircraft carrier on Wednesday, its second carrier after the Soviet-built Liaoning, which China purchased from Ukraine. The new ship represents a milestone because it is the first domestically constructed carrier for China.
On Saturday, two high-ranking Philippine officials visited the island of Pag-asa in the South China Sea, drawing a protest from China, which claims ownership of the entire region.
From the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan as it sat alongside Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, Vice President Mike Pence commended military troops with a message from the president, in the same speech bringing robust affirmation of the United States’ commitment to longtime ally Japan.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte shocked international observers last week with a call to occupy the uninhabited islands of the South China Sea before China colonized them, an apparent about-face from his months-long campaign to improve bilateral relations with China.
Contents: Japan to repopulate 148 remote islands, as confrontation with China looms; Taiwan and Japan try to settle their disputes peacefully
Contents: President Trump orders missile strikes on Bashar al-Assad’s Syria; Philippines president Duterte orders military to occupy South China Sea islands; Philippines sends warship to Benham Rise to protect from China
Former U.N. ambassador John Bolton discussed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s summit with President Donald Trump and the chemical weapons crisis in Syria with SiriusXM host Raheem Kassam on Thursday’s Breitbart News Daily.
On Friday’s Breitbart News Daily, presidential adviser Dr. Sebastian Gorka talked about Asia policy with SiriusXM host Alex Marlow, taking an especially firm stand against China’s effort to claim dominion over the entire South China Sea.
A Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman denied the existence of Chinese-made artificial islands in the South China Sea on Thursday, a bizarre development given the open construction of such islands and promotion of their newly-installed assets in Chinese media.
Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton paid a visit to Breitbart News Daily with SiriusXM host Alex Marlow on Thursday to offer his thoughts on some top news items of the day.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte once again criticized the United States for not acting with sufficient boldness to keep China from usurping the Philippine waters of the South China Sea, questioning why Washington did not send an “armada” to the Spratly Islands.”
Satellite images published this week confirm that China has almost completed the construction of a variety of military assets in the Philippine and Vietnamese South China Sea, assets that allow it to deploy fighter jets and missile launchers at a moment’s notice and provide it expanded surveillance capabilities.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said “in jest” during a speech Thursday that he believed China was seeking to turn his country into “a province” of theirs, after condemning the United States for not doing enough to stop China from building artificial islands on Philippine territory in the South China Sea.
WASHINGTON – The Navy has made several requests to conduct operations that would challenge China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, but the administration has not granted them, Breitbart News has learned.
The Philippines has threatened to protest the launch of a building project on the Scarborough Shoal, a land formation within the Philippines’ sovereign territory that also falls within China’s “nine-dash line,” a territorial claim struck down by an international tribunal.
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen announced Tuesday that she was approving a new plan for the island nation to build an indigenous submarine, following years of failing to get foreign nations to agree to sell submarines to the Taiwanese military for fear of upsetting the Chinese Communist Party.
The government of Taiwan is planning to request the purchase of new fighter aircraft from the United States, The Guardian reported, just as it completes the transfer of two decommissioned U.S. Navy frigates.
Contents: Taiwan says it must defend against increasingly threatening China; China responds harshly to Taiwan’s defense report; Taiwan’s government responds to China’s threats; China begins construction on Philippines’ Scarborough Shoal
A bill introduced by Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) on Wednesday calls for sanctions against Chinese individuals and companies that participate in island-building projects across the disputed South China Sea region.
China finally got around to responding to Japan’s planned tour of the South China Sea with the helicopter carrier Izumo, its largest warship. The Chinese response was predictably unpleasant, as reported by Reuters.
Sources within the Japanese government revealed plans on Monday to send the Izumo helicopter carrier, the nation’s largest warship, on a three-month tour of the South China Sea.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte walked back concerns about China’s presence in an undisputed Philippine South China Sea territory on Monday, calling reports of tension “exaggerated” while demanding the navy “tell them straight that this is ours” by constructing new “structures” meant to ward off Chinese territorial challenges.
President Donald Trump will host the Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate, according to Mike Allen of Axios.
The government of Vietnam has condemned China for imposing a fishing ban over its territory in the Paracel Islands, a South China Sea archipelago that China illegally claims as its own.
Contents: Vietnam protests China’s fishing ban in the South China Sea; China’s fishing ban related to food security in times of war; North Korea fires four ballistic missiles into sea near Japan
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), currently chaired by the Philippines, is aspiring to debut a new maritime code of conduct by June intended to diminish tensions between member nations and China in the South China Sea.
Numerous articles in Chinese state-controlled media are encouraging Chinese nationals to boycott the Lotte Group, a South Korean conglomerate that recently approved a land deal making the deployment of a new U.S. missile defense system in the country possible.
In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, President Donald Trump expressed frustration that the previous administration did not take stronger action against Pyongyang and that China refuses to bring its unruly client state to heel.
Contents: China preparing to install long-range missiles in South China Sea; China’s ASEAN neighbors express increasing anxiety over China’s illegal militarization
China is reportedly nearing completion on some two dozen structures that could house long-range missiles in the South China Sea.
China is considering modifications to its maritime law that would require foreign vessels to identify themselves to Beijing and would require submarines to travel above the surface. As China considers most of the South China Sea and some of the East China Sea as its own, the law would thus require Vietnamese, Philippine, and other vessels to report to China in their own domestic waters.
On Tuesday, China slammed the United States’ deployment of an aircraft carrier to conduct “routine operations” in the South China Sea earlier this week, calling it a pretense to undermine its sovereignty.
Bombing in Somalia kills 50, said to target Somali-American president; US aircraft carrier renews challenge to China in the South China Sea; US-backed Iraqi army launches major new offensive in western Mosul
The Chinese government bristled at reports suggesting the Trump administration is considering a new round of Freedom of Navigation operations (FONOPs) in the South China Sea, warning the United States not to “challenge China’s sovereignty” in territory international courts have found China has no claims to.
On Friday, the U.S. Pacific Command announced that one of its patrol aircraft had a “close encounter” with a Chinese plane over the South China Sea. The Pentagon initially classified the encounter as “unsafe” but later walked this judgment back.
A report published this week unveils significant Chinese development of military constructions and placement of new naval and aerial military assets in the Paracel Islands, a disputed territory in the South China Sea.
