CHINA has deployed a military aircraft to a base it had built on a reclaimed island in the South China Sea, photos from an American think tank released Wednesday confirmed. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative published photos taken from April 28 showing a military aircraft, a Shaanxi Y-8, at Subi Reef in the Spratly Islands. […]
Well, it was hardly surprising when the news came out: Beijing has based – permanently, perhaps – offensive weapons on the artificial islands it has painstakingly constructed in the South China Sea. These deployments cap a series of deceptions, increasingly belligerent military actions, and various illegal activities that have surrounded Chinese goings-on in the region […]
Satellite images show transport plane on Subi Reef in contested Spratly Islands, just 12 nautical miles from Philippine island The presence of the Shaanxi Y-8 transport plane on a runway at Subi Reef in the Spratly Islands, as seen in satellite images taken on April 28, confirms that China has now landed military aircraft on […]
This latest surveillance photo shows China’s military outpost on Zamora Reef is almost finished. CNBC has reported that China has deployed anti-ship missiles and surface-to-air missile systems on Zamora and two other Philippine-claimed reefs. Vietnam has requested China to withdraw its weapons from disputed territory in the South China Sea, while security experts have urged […]
MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte’s planned visit to the Philippine Rise (Benham Rise) next week is “unfortunate,” a maritime law expert said. Jay Batongbacal, director of the UP Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, said the continental shelf is not a hotly contested area and the government should instead work on asserting […]
HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam has asked China to withdraw military equipment from the South China Sea, following media reports this month that China had installed missiles there. “Vietnam requests that China, as a large country, shows its responsibility in maintaining peace and stability in the East Sea,” Vietnamese foreign ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang […]
WASHINGTON – China has installed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missile systems on three of its outposts in the South China Sea, US news network CNBC reported on Wednesday, citing sources with direct knowledge of US intelligence reports. The move, if confirmed, would mark the first Chinese missile deployments in the Spratly Islands, where several […]
Defying Chinese calls to keep out of the South China Sea, Washington’s top diplomat to Manila on Thursday said the US will continue to conduct freedom of navigation operations in the disputed waters “to protect important international rights for everybody, including the Philippines.” US Ambassador Sung Kim said the US is concerned over China’s recent […]
In a telling sign of the dramatic turn in Philippine-China relations, the two nations recently agreed to pursue joint development agreements (JDA) on hydrocarbon deposits in the South China Sea. During his late March visit to Beijing, Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano hailed a “golden period” in Philippine-China relations, and reiterated his country’s commitment […]
Newest vessels take samples from ocean floor at site of China’s first find of active methane hydrates, a potential new natural gas source China has carried out deepwater exploration in an energy-rich area of the disputed South China Sea, its minerals research agency said on Wednesday. This comes as the latest in a series of […]