Defence Minister Christopher Pyne says China’s militarisation of the South China Sea has increased anxiety and suspicion about the rising power’s intentions in the region. Australia is open to conducting drills with other militaries in the disputed territory to send a message that it is international waters, he will say in a keynote address to […]

China’s military modernisation is part of a “diverse” new threat to the national security of the United States, Washington said this week, just days after a separate US report raised concerns about Beijing’s development of a new generation of stealth jets. According to the latest “National Intelligence Strategy” – produced by the Office of the […]

Key state-owned enterprise reform ‘needs to take place much faster’ DAVOS, Switzerland — China’s ongoing trade war with the U.S. and the slowdown of its economy, the world’s second largest, are taking an expensive toll on its neighbors. Times are especially hard for Vietnam, as its relationship with its powerful neighbor in the north is […]

The United States and the United Kingdom conducted joint naval exercises in the South China Sea last week, their first such drills in the area since 2010. The operations were intended to push back on China’s assertive behavior in the region, including its militarization of nearby artificial islands, but analysts are skeptical that they will […]

The US Navy sent the destroyer USS McCampbell and replenishment oiler USNS Walter S. Diehl through the Taiwan Strait Thursday. It is the fourth time the Navy has publicly admitted to sending surface combatants through the closely-watched strait since the US restarted the practice last summer. It comes at a sensitive time in US-China relations, […]

China says its new hypersonic missile, the DF-17, can sink U.S. Navy aircraft carriers. The claim, which ran in several media outlets controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, came just hours after U.S. and British Royal Navy warships sailed through the South China Sea together. Yes, China almost certainly has such missiles. Whether the country […]

Andrew K.P. Leung says the US is confronting China in multiple arenas, ranging from technology to Taiwan to the South China Sea. While the world anxiously watches the US-China trade talks unfold, there has been all-out resistance against the perceived “China threat”, albeit with uncertain results. Following a series of national security and defence reviews, […]

Taiwan’s defense ministry says the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) flew “various military aircraft” close to the island on Tuesday, one week after Taiwan held its first large-scale military drills of 2019 to deter a potential Chinese invasion. China flew a Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet and a Shaanxi Y-8 surveillance plane, along with other aircraft, […]

Taiwan rushed to dispatch planes of its own “to ensure the safety of national airspace”, with Taipei urging its people “not to panic”. A statement issued by Taiwan’s defence ministry said “various military aircraft” including a Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet and a Shaanxi Y-8 transport plane, had been spotted flying over the Bashi Channel, a […]

If Taipei fell to Beijing control tomorrow, then Xi Jinping could use the country’s bases to launch new wars. TAIPEI — Those focusing on whether China can sink a U.S. aircraft carrier or lob missiles at Guam are missing the larger problem. And it is not about the tragic loss of a democratic friend in […]