The Trump administration is confronting China in a manner that may be unlikely to advance U.S. competitiveness or enlist much support abroad. President Donald Trump issued a bold declaration late last month: “We don’t need China and, frankly, would be better off without them.” Most U.S. observers agree that Washington needed to recalibrate its […]
In the tunnels of the “Underground Great Wall” are stacked hundreds of nuclear ICBMs, hidden from the eyes of the world. This 5,000 kilometer passageway is just one part of China’s plan to modernize and increase the size, power, and efficiency of its already gargantuan military. In 2019, the People’s Liberation Army’s annual defense […]
Key point: The Littoral Combat Ship did not perform as expected. The U.S. Navy in late 2019 or 2020 expects to select a shipyard to build the fleet’s new guided-missile frigate. The 20 heavily-armed frigates will replace roughly half of the 50 or so Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) that the Navy had planned to […]
KYLE MIZOKAMI, a journalist who cofounded the defence blog Japan Security Watch, has run a simulation on a naval war breaking out between the US and Beijing in the South China Sea. The battle has been simulated on computer programme Command: Modern Naval/Air Operations, which including staff from the US Naval War college in […]
MANILA – “The face of defeat.” That was how South China Sea scholar and BBC journalist Bill Hayton described the Philippines’ refusal to raise its arbitral victory against China before the United Nations. Hayton, author of the book “The South China Sea: The Struggle for Power in Asia,” said he believes the Philippines “has plenty […]
Where are Chinese tourists going if they’re giving Hong Kong a miss? The recent announcement of a bilateral consultation mechanism between China and Malaysia on maritime affairs has given rise to questions surrounding the South China Sea, where both countries have overlapping claims. In a meeting between Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah and China’s […]
MANILA, Philippines — Two warships of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSF) are in Manila for a three-day goodwill visit, the sixth this year alone, the Philippine Navy said yesterday. Japanese Ship Bungo, an Uraga-class minesweeper tender, and JS Takashima, a Hirashima-class coastal minesweeper, arrived at the South Harbor yesterday. The visit is “another […]
China, Russia and Iran are planning a joint naval drill in the Sea of Oman and northern Indian Ocean “soon”, a semi-official Iranian news outlet reported on Saturday, just days after the United States blamed Iran for a drone attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities. General Ghadir Nezami Pour, head of international affairs and […]
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s lavish visit to the White House on Friday—including the second State Dinner of Donald Trump’s presidency—comes at a critical time as both nations seek to counter China’s growing influence in the South Pacific. A day of meetings and the formal Rose Garden dinner—the first for an Australian leader since […]
The move to sell US fighter jets to Taiwan has stirred fresh debate about the region’s balance of power, amid a brewing US-China rivalry, says defence observer Mike Yeo. MELBOURNE: The recent announcement by the Trump administration approving the sale of new fighter jets to Taiwan has predictably drawn ire from China and stirred […]