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.
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.
The Japanese destroyer Ise made port in Subic Bay on Tuesday, paying a training visit to the Philippines, and sending an unmistakable message to China.
China is looking far and wide for allies in support of its invasion and colonization of South China Sea territories belonging to other nations. Last week, it received its first statement of support from the African nation of Gambia, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is now claiming that Laos and Brunei also support China’s claims.
Rodrigo Duterte, the frontrunner in this year’s Philippine presidential election, promised voters in a debate Sunday night that he would ride into the disputed territories of the South China Sea on a jet ski and plant the flag of the Philippines on the Spratly Islands, where China has built advance military infrastructure.
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.
Rodrigo Duterte, currently the frontrunner in this year’s Philippine presidential elections, has vowed to “sever” ties with the United States over their criticism of a joke he made about an Australian rape victim. The threat comes at a time of high tensions in the South China Sea, where the U.S. is aiding the Philippines in keeping China from usurping much of its territory.
China is looking for Russia’s help to press its claims in the South China Sea, as the Philippines argues an important territorial dispute before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague.
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.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter paid his second visit in five months to the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, on station in the South China Sea, this time in the company of Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.
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.
Contents: China close to deploying very long range DF-41 missile; China-US differences sharpen over South China Sea
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.
There is much debate over the negative effects of massive trade deficits, and what the best strategy for correcting them might be, but it’s hard to deny the U.S. trade deficit with China is staggering in scale … and it got that
The nations in the community of the South China Sea have begun to take growing action against China’s intrusions into their waters. The latest country to arrest Chinese fishermen present illegally in their territory is Taiwan, which has announced the arrest of 41 fishermen in possession of illegal turtles and coral in their territorial waters.
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.
Contents: China’s coast guard warship rams vessel in Indonesian waters; US and Philippines agree on access to five military bases
In response to China’s assertive moves in the South China Sea, the U.S. State Department struck a deal with the government of the Philippines to permit American military forces to operate from five Philippine bases. The Chinese seem more annoyed than intimidated by the increased American military presence in the region.
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.”
