South China Sea

When President Xi Jinping of China visited President Obama at the White House last September, he startled many with reassuring words about his intentions for the Spratly Islands, a contested area where the Chinese government has been piling dredged sand and concrete atop reefs for the past few years and building housing and runways on them. “China does not intend to […]

China’s leadership is resisting pressure from elements within the military for a more forceful response to an international court ruling against Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea, sources said, wary of provoking a clash with the United States. China refused to participate in the case overseen by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The […]

Using UNCLOS (United National Convention on the Law of the Sea) the Philippines claimed that the West Philippine Sea fell with in their exclusive economic zone.

The navy has sent a helicopter and boats to search for the missile, the report said.

he officials did not know if the U.S. plane took any evasive action to avoid the Chinese aircraft or at what point the J-10 broke away. It is also not yet clear if the U.S. will diplomatically protest the incident. Officials said the RC-135 was on a routine mission.

China risks further alienating regional neighbours and building a “great wall of self-isolation” as it pursues its military expansion across the South China Sea, US defense secretary Ashton Carter warned on Saturday. Speaking at a security summit in Singapore, Carter said countries across the Asia-Pacific region continue to fret over China’s sweeping claims of sovereignty in the South […]

Tropical islands in the South China Sea have become a major strategic headache between China and the United States. As tensions escalate over China’s construction of military installations on disputed islands, the United States Navy has sent extra warships to the waterway. A Chinese fighter jet recently flew so close to an American surveillance plane that there […]

After spending his first day in Vietnam shuttling among meetings with different government leaders, Obama will spend the next two days speaking directly to the Vietnamese people and meeting with civil society groups and young entrepreneurs.

It appears as if no lessons were learned in the Hainan Island incident back in April of 2001. In that case, a US Navy EP-3 was intercepted by Chinese PLAN (People’s Liberation Army Navy) J-8’s. Allegedly one of the J-8’s was flying extremely dangerously and ended up colliding in midair with the EP-3. The J-8 […]

Chinese official says jets maintained a safe distance from American aircraft; urges Washington to halt such reconnaissance activities. China criticized Washington for deploying a U.S. reconnaissance plane near Chinese territory, but denied a Pentagon account that Chinese jet fighters conducted a risky close-range interception—the latest spat between the powers that fueled concern over the growing risks […]

China’s military in 2015 became more assertive in the South China Sea, projected a greater global presence and underwent nascent reforms intended to make it deadlier and more loyal to the ruling political party, according to an annual U.S. Defense Department report. The report, mandated by Congress, highlights China’s defense strategy and developments. “China continues […]

The U.S. Navy on Tuesday sent a guided missile destroyer within 12 miles of a disputed island in the South China Sea where China has built an airstrip — prompting China to scramble fighter jets and dispatch warships to “expel” the American ship. “USS William P. Lawrence exercised the right of innocent passage while transiting […]