Tag - south-china-sea

 
 

SOUTH CHINA SEA

Visitors look at a model of the China's Fujian aircraft carrier at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, China, last November.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 16, 2025
China offers latest hint that newest aircraft carrier could soon enter service
Observers say that a commissioning ceremony could come as early as next month, though training for carrier-based aircraft must still be conducted.
A China Coast Guard ship navigates near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea in August.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 16, 2025
China says Philippine ship ‘deliberately rammed’ coast guard vessel in South China Sea
The clash near the flash point Scarborough Shoal, which is also claimed by Manila, came just days after Beijing approved plans to turn the area into a national nature reserve.
Sailors aboard the U.S. Navy's guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn conduct a small boat operation during a "Maritime Cooperative Activity" with the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Osumi tank-landing ship and the Philippine Navy's Jose Rizal frigate in the South China Sea on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 14, 2025
Beijing denounces joint U.S.-Japan-Philippines patrol of South China Sea
China criticized the joint trilateral exercises, alleging that Manila has “frequently colluded with non-regional countries” to organize the patrols.
Chinese passports left behind in one of the rooms of a dormitory building at a former online casino compound in Bamban, the Philippines, last December after a raid revealed the mayor’s business connections to a money-laundering scandal and sparked allegations of Chinese espionage.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 13, 2025
Philippines says Chinese ‘malign influence activities’ continue at high pace
A top Philippine security official has said that the espionage activities are “almost on par” with Beijing’s ship deployments in parts of the South China Sea.
A reporter records video over Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea in February 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 13, 2025
U.S. rejects China nature reserve plan in South China Sea area near Philippines
The U.S. called China’s plan to create a national nature reserve at Scarborough Shoal in the disputed sea area "destabilizing.”
A Chinese Navy ship speeds past a Philippine fishing boat while the Philippine, Australia and Canadian navies conduct a joint drill near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sept. 2.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 10, 2025
Manila working on new protocols for dealing with Beijing in South China Sea
As tensions heat up in the waterway, the Philippines is updating its existing rules of engagement as part of a whole-of-government approach.
A Philippine Navy sailor looks at a China Coast Guard vessel just off the coast of Pag-asa Island in the disputed South China Sea last month.
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Sep 1, 2025
Surrounded by Chinese bases, a tiny Philippine island stands firm
Pag-asa Island — population 400 — sits on the front line of a simmering territorial dispute between Beijing and Manila in the flash point South China Sea.
A Y-20 tanker aircraft and Chengdu J-20 jet fighters fly in a formation during a flyover rehearsal ahead of a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, in Beijing on Aug. 24.
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Aug 30, 2025
Beyond the 'bling,' China aims for deterrence in military show
Questions remain about how effectively China's armed forces — untested since a bloody border conflict with Vietnam in 1979 — could knit its gear together in a future conflict.
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2025
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
A decision is expected in the “coming months,” a senior government official in Manila said, following an inspection of the Abukuma-class destroyer escorts.
Filipino soldiers take part in a flag-raising ceremony on Mavulis Island during a visit by the Philippines' Armed Forces chief of staff, in Batanes, the Philippines, in June 2023. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, sits about 160 kilometers from Taiwan.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 25, 2025
Philippines quietly deepening ‘unofficial’ defense ties with Taiwan
The moves come as Manila settles into a view that alliances, geography and economic interests would inevitably pull it into any U.S. conflict with China over the island.
This handout video grab released and taken on Monday by the Philippine Coast Guard shows a Chinese Coast Guard ship with a damaged bow following an incident with a Chinese Navy vessel, as seen from a Philippine fisheries boat near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 13, 2025
China's military says it 'drove away' U.S. destroyer near Scarborough Shoal
The shoal has been a major source of tension in the South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce.
This handout video grab released and taken on August 11, 2025 by the Philippine Coast Guard shows an incident between a Chinese Navy vessel (left) and a Chinese Coast Guard ship as seen from a Philippine fisheries boat near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 11, 2025
Chinese vessels collide while pursuing Philippine boat in South China Sea
Video released by Manila showed a China Coast Guard ship and a much larger vessel bearing the number 164 on its hull colliding with a loud crash.
An Indian Naval officer stands behind Philippine and Indian flags at the international port of Manila on Friday. India's naval vessels arrived in Manila for a port visit late last week.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 4, 2025
Philippine and Indian navies begin first joint South China Sea patrols
The Philippines has heightened defense cooperation with a range of allies over the past year after a series of clashes in the South China Sea.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas attends a meeting in Brussels on July 14.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 23, 2025
China singled out at EU-Japan summit
The two sides reiterated their opposition to “any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion” in the East and South China seas.
"The aggressiveness of China has been several years in the making," Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said virtually at the Reuters NEXT Asia summit in Singapore on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 9, 2025
Philippine defense chief rules out U.S. as factor in China's 'expansionist' agenda
Despite rising tension in the regional flash point of the South China Sea, the Philippines' top defense official also dismissed fears that conflict was on the horizon.
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (left), Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong (second from left), Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya (second from right) and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stand together at the start of a meeting of "the Quad" at the U.S. State Department in Washington on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 2, 2025
‘Quad’ nations announce critical minerals initiative amid China concerns
A joint statement was carefully crafted not to directly mention China, but the four Indo-Pacific countries made clear a goal of reducing dependence on Beijing.
Protesters from the Socialista National Confederation of Labor, angered by China's actions in the South China Sea, hold a rally outside the Chinese Consulate in Makati City, Metro Manila, in June 2015.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2025
Beijing's peace message on South China Sea contradicts its actions
The four principles articulated in a recent Chinese paper are propaganda and concocted realities of communist thinking.
China’s expanding military presence and frequent exercises around Taiwan and Japan require Tokyo to strengthen the country’s defenses and diplomatic efforts against Beijing’s aggression.
EDITORIALS
Jun 13, 2025
A belligerent China hones its tools of intimidation
Recent exercises underscore the ability of the People’s Liberation Army to project power ever farther from the country’s shores.
U.S. Marines conduct beach rehearsals with the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) in preparation for Exercise Kamandag in Aparri, the Philippines, on May 23.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 11, 2025
U.S. military drills in Philippines end — but anti-ship missile system stays
Confirmation that the NMESIS coastal defense system will remain in the Philippines is likely to anger Beijing, which has already been calling for the missile system to be removed.
Philippines Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro speaks at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 2, 2025
Philippines vague on U.S. missile deployments, but clear on one thing
Manila has already secured the funds to buy its own midrange missiles, according to Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro.

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