Category Archives: South China Sea

Penny Wong issues emphatic plea to US and China to ‘prevent catastrophe’ of war

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Australia’s foreign affairs minister to give speech in hope ‘nationalistic domestic posturing won’t sink efforts to build safeguards’

Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has urged China to take up a US offer to put in place “guardrails” to prevent growing tensions from spiralling into war.

Wong will use a speech in Washington DC on Thursday to hit back at claims that Australia’s plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines under Aukus is driving a regional arms race.

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China accused of seizing rocket debris from Philippines navy in South China Sea dispute

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Coast guard cut towing cable the Phillipines navy was using, say military officials, on eve of visit to region by Kamala Harris

China’s coast guard forcibly seized the suspected debris of a Chinese rocket that the Philippine navy was towing to its island in the South China Sea, Philippines military officials have said, in the latest confrontation in the disputed sea.

The Chinese vessel twice blocked the Philippine naval boat before seizing the floating debris it was towing on Sunday off Philippine-occupied Thitu island, Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos said on Monday. He said no one was injured in the incident.

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Conflict in South China Sea would threaten 90% of Australia’s fuel imports

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The country would run out within two months of a major disruption. Here are five ways to reduce vulnerability

China’s sabre-rattling about Taiwan underlines the need for Australia to be prepared for conflict in the South China Sea.

With its growing navy and air force, and the bases it has built throughout the area, China is increasingly capable of disrupting shipping lanes crucial to Australia’s exports and imports.

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‘Logic of brute force’ is rising in Indo-Pacific, says Japan amid China concerns

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Japan’s foreign minister tells Washington audience world at ‘historical crossroads’ and that Russian invasion of Ukraine must not succeed

Japan’s foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, has sounded the alarm about China’s behaviour in the Indo-Pacific during a visit to Washington, saying the “logic of brute force” was gaining more traction over the rule of law in the Indo-Pacific.

Referring to Chinese and Russian joint bomber flights near Japan in May, Hayashi said stronger military coordination between China and Russia was emerging as a security concern. “We are currently standing at a historical crossroads, one fraught with a sense of crisis,” he told the Centre for Strategic and International Studies thinktank on Friday. “We are facing a watershed moment.

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China’s challenges to Australian ships: three reasons not to panic | Adam Lockyer

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It’s important to view encounters between the two militaries in operational context

Last week it was reported that in early July an Australian warship had been closely followed by a Chinese guided-missile destroyer, a nuclear-powered attack submarine and multiple military aircraft as it travelled through the East China Sea.

This incident followed a confrontation on 26 May, when an Australian maritime surveillance plane was dangerously intercepted by a Chinese fighter over the South China Sea.

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‘Abusing China’s restraint’: Beijing accuses Australia of provocation at sea

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Global Times quotes comments by foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on military encounters in the South China Sea

China has accused Australia of provocation in the South China Sea and said Australia – along with the United States and Canada – must “refrain from abusing China’s restraint”.

Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin was responding to a question about recent military encounters in the South China Sea, including reports in Politico that a Chinese fighter jet had an “unsafe” and “unprofessional” interaction with an American C-130 aircraft.

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Australian defence minister warns China risks sparking arms race

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Richard Marles outlines vision of economic cooperation and military deterrence but warns lack of transparency can upset balance

China’s military buildup must be accompanied by transparency and reassurances to its neighbours or risk triggering an arms race, Australia’s deputy prime minister and defence minister, Richard Marles, has said.

Speaking in Singapore at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday, Marles laid out a vision of economic cooperation balanced with military deterrence, but sounded a warning about militarisation in the Asia Pacific.

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Chinese fighter jet’s actions near Australian aircraft ‘very dangerous’, deputy PM says

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Defence reports J-16 jet released ‘chaff’ including aluminium shards in front of Australian flight in South China Sea region

Australia has complained to China over its interception of a maritime surveillance flight in international airspace in the South China Sea region, which the deputy prime minister labelled “very dangerous”.

The defence department has revealed the interception of a “routine maritime surveillance activity” in a statement on Sunday, claiming it resulted in a “dangerous manoeuvre” that risked the safety of the Australian aircraft and its crew.

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China has fully militarized three islands in South China Sea, US admiral says

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John C Aquilino says Beijing is flexing its military muscle by arming isles with fighter jets, anti-ship systems and other military facilities

China has fully militarized at least three of several islands it built in the disputed South China Sea, arming them with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, laser and jamming equipment and fighter jets in an increasingly aggressive move that threatens all nations operating nearby, a top US military commander said Sunday.

US Indo-Pacific commander Admiral John C Aquilino said the hostile actions were in stark contrast to the Chinese president Xi Jinping’s past assurances that Beijing would not transform the artificial islands in contested waters into military bases. The efforts were part of China’s flexing its military muscle, he said.

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Satellite images show China has built mock-ups of US warships

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Sighting renews concerns over Beijing’s capability and intentions as tensions rise over South China Sea

Satellite images show China has built mock-ups of a US navy aircraft carrier and destroyer in its north-western desert, possibly for practice for a future clash.

China has massively upgraded its military in recent years, and its capability and intentions are increasingly concerning to the US as tensions rise over the South China Sea, Taiwan and military supremacy in the Indo-Pacific.

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US nuclear-powered submarine hits submerged object in South China Sea

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Attack class submarine USS Connecticut hit an unknown object on routine operations and is in a ‘safe and stable’ condition, US navy says

A nuclear powered US navy attack submarine has struck an object while submerged in international waters in the South China Sea, officials have said.

Eleven sailors were hurt – two suffered moderate injuries and the rest had minor scrapes and bruises, officials said. All were treated on the sub.

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Chinese planes fly over Taiwan defence zone in second day of record show of force

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Taipei says 39 Chinese fighter jets crossed into its defence zone in two sorties, following a 38-plane incursion on Friday

China has for the second day in a row flown more than 30 military planes towards Taiwan in yet another record show of force.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said 39 aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zone in two sorties on Saturday, one during the day and one at night. That followed a similar pattern on Friday, when 38 planes flew into the area south of the self-governing island.

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China flies record 38 planes over Taiwan defence zone in national day show of force

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Taipei says Chinese jets and bombers crossed zone as Beijing marked the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic

A record 38 Chinese military jets crossed into Taiwan’s defence zone as Beijing marked the founding of the People’s Republic of China, officials in Taipei have said.

The show of force on China’s national day on Friday near the self-ruled democratic island, which Beijing claims as part of its territory, came in the same week it accused Britain of sending a warship into the Taiwan strait with “evil intentions”.

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Kamala Harris accuses Beijing of ‘coercion’ and ‘intimidation’ in South China Sea

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In major speech delivered in Singapore, US vice president says America stands with its allies in the Indo Pacific in the face of threats from China

US vice president Kamala Harris has delivered a sharp rebuke to China for its incursions in the South China Sea, warning its actions there amount to “coercion” and “intimidation” and affirming that the US will support its allies in the region against Beijing’s advances.

“We know that Beijing continues to coerce, to intimidate and to make claims to the vast majority of the South China Sea,” she said in a major foreign policy speech Tuesday in Singapore in which she laid out the Biden administration’s vision for the Indo-Pacific. “Beijing’s actions continue to undermine the rules-based order and threaten the sovereignty of nations.”

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UK says it has no plans for South China Sea confrontation after Beijing warning

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Naval strike group is sailing through waters heavily contested between China and neighbouring countries

Britain has said it has no plans to stage a naval confrontation with China in the South China Sea and that it aims to send its carrier strike group in the most direct route across the contested body of water from Singapore to the Philippine Sea.

The cooling message emerged hours after China’s military and state media warned the UK against provocation as the group, led by Royal Navy aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, undertakes what had been expected to be a more assertive deployment.

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Biden and Xi talk of a clash of civilisations. But the real shared goal is dominance | Richard McGregor

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The US president has challenged the idea that the ‘east is rising, the west declining’. Instead, he insists that America’s day is far from done

Finally, we have arrived, not at a clash of civilisations, but at the clash of civilisations. Or so President Joe Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress would have you believe. The US versus China. The west versus the east. Democracy versus autocracy. Biden’s speech last week was rich in laying down markers for Washington in the contest of the century.

“They’re going to write about this point in history,” Biden told a gathering of US television news anchors before his speech, in remarks later released by the White House. “Not about any of us in here, but about whether or not democracy can function in the 21st century.”

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South China Sea: alarm in Philippines as 200 Chinese vessels gather at disputed reef

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Philippines defence chief says vessels at Whitsun reef are manned by militias rather than fishermen, and accuses Beijing of ‘provocation’

The Philippines’ defence chief has demanded more than 200 Chinese vessels he said were manned by militias leave a South China Sea reef claimed by Manila, saying their presence was a “provocative action of militarising the area.”

“We call on the Chinese to stop this incursion and immediately recall these boats violating our maritime rights and encroaching into our sovereign territory,” defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a statement on Sunday, adding without elaborating that the Philippines would uphold its sovereign rights.

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China could invade Taiwan in next six years, top US admiral warns

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Asia Pacific commander Philip Davidson says Beijing wants to take Washington’s world leadership role by 2050

China could invade Taiwan within the next six years as Beijing accelerates its moves to supplant American military power in Asia, a top US commander has warned.

Democratic and self-ruled Taiwan lives under constant threat of invasion by China, whose leaders view the island as part of their territory and which they have vowed to one day take back.

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US warns Beijing against using force in South China Sea

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State department concerned by new laws that authorise Chinese coastguard to use weapons against foreign ships

The United States has warned China against the use of force in disputed waters as it reaffirmed its view that Beijing’s assertive campaign in the South China Sea is illegal.

The state department voiced “concern” about new legislation enacted by China that authorises its coastguard to use weapons against foreign ships that Beijing considers to be unlawfully entering its waters.

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Australian military to continue patrolling South China Sea as Beijing warns Taiwan independence ‘means war’

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Australia ‘monitoring developments’ as Taiwan reports an increase in Chinese aircraft in its defence zone

Australian military ships and aircraft will continue to patrol the South China Sea amid warnings from China that a declaration of independence by Taiwan would “mean war”.

With Taiwan reporting an increase in Chinese military aircraft in its air defence zone, and with Beijing cautioning independence forces against “playing with fire”, the Australian government is closely monitoring developments in the region.

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