US Navy guided-missile destroyers and guided-missile cruisers. U.S. Navy photo by Lt.j.g. Caleb Swigart Two US Navy destroyers conducted a freedom-of-navigation operation in the South China Sea on Monday, challenging China’s claims to the Spratly Islands. Beijing accused the US of entering Chinese waters without permission and engaging in provocations that threaten China’s sovereignty. It […]

Britain says it is deploying its flagship aircraft carrier to the South China Sea, with British and US F-35 fighter jets aboard, in the UK’s biggest mission yet to the region. It escalates a tense situation, as China fiercely asserts that the sea is its territory and frames other naval vessels’ sailing there as an […]

The US is “determined to stir up trouble in the South China Sea, create tension and undermine peace”, China said. BEIJING: China on Monday accused the United States of trying to “stir up trouble” by sending two US destroyers near disputed South China Sea islands. The guided-missile destroyers USS Spruance and USS Preble sailed near […]

Britain will send its flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth to the South China Sea. The United Kingdom will deploy its new aircraft carrier, loaded with two squadrons of F-35 aircraft into the politically-fraught South China Sea. British Defense Minister Gavin Williamson confirmed in a speech Monday morning that the Royal Navy’s HMS Queen Elizabeth will sail […]

  China struck an upbeat note on Monday as trade talks resumed with the United States, but also expressed anger at a U.S. Navy mission through the disputed South China Sea, casting a shadow over the prospect for improved Beijing-Washington ties. BEIJING/WASHINGTON: U.S. and Chinese officials expressed hopes on Monday that a new round of […]

Observers fear the South China Sea could become a flashpoint for conflict — and the US just made another move likely to anger China. Australia pressured to increase South China Sea military presence Two United States warships have sailed near islands claimed by China in the South China Sea, a US official has told Reuters. […]

Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, will say today that Britain must be ready “to use hard power” to protect its interests. He will warn that Russia and China are blurring the boundaries between peace and war and declare that Britain must stand up to those who “flout international law”, a principle that “may lead to […]

Silence is not always golden. What is left unsaid sometimes can be disturbing, even alarming — as it was from both sides of the political aisle during Tuesday’s State of the Union address. During the course of his 82-minute speech, President Trump mentioned only three foreign leaders: North Korea’s Kim Jong Un (with whom he […]

A strategic rehabilitation of Hanjin Heavy Industry Corp. by a consortium of multinationals from around the world may be a major step toward a peaceful South China Sea. Rather than strategic competition, the rehabilitation policy of the Philippine government must be for strategic cooperation. This, too, is the spirit of an October 2018 report of […]

BRITAIN’S new super-carrier should form the centre of a multinational taskforce to challenge Beijing’s stranglehold of the South China Sea, defence sources said last night. It follows a new report by the Henry Jackson Society think tank, backed by senior Admirals, which includes the move as part of a seven-point plan to ensure China holds […]