Tag: S. China Sea

SYDNEY —  China has urged Australia to notify it of navy movements in the contested South China Sea and East China Sea, with a senior Chinese official cautioning that a small incident between militaries could escalate and damage ties. Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week said a Chinese warship acted in a dangerous manner by using its sonar during an incident with an Australian navy vessel in Japan’s waters that injured a military diver. The same Australian vessel, Toowoomba, began joint patrols with the Philippines in the South China…

CANBERRA, Australia —  Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday criticized China for a “dangerous” encounter between Chinese and Australian warships but declined to say whether he had raised the issue in recent talks with President Xi Jinping. He said one Australian diver was injured when a Chinese destroyer used sonar while near an Australian frigate in international waters last Tuesday. Defense Minister Richard Marles said Saturday he had raised serious concerns with Beijing about the destroyer’s unsafe and unprofessional behavior. China’s defense ministry spokesperson, Wu Qian, on Monday dismissed Australia’s…

TOKYO —  Just days ago, Chinese and Japanese coast guard ships faced off — again — over rocky islets in the East China Sea that each nation claims as its own. Called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, the Nov. 1 incident was a repeat of a similar incident on Oct. 17. To ensure that this dispute and others like it do not escalate due to a lack of communications, Toyko and Beijing took a step backward on May 16,when Japan’s then-Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada placed a…

ABOARD THE BRP CABRA —  As a U.S. Navy surveillance plane flew in circles, keeping a close watch, dozens of Chinese coast guard and accompanying ships chased and encircled Philippine vessels in the latest confrontation in one of the most dangerous flashpoints in the South China Sea. At the height of Friday’s four-hour faceoff in the high seas, a Chinese coast guard ship blasted a water cannon toward a Philippine motorboat delivering food and other supplies to Filipino forces on a marooned, rusting warship that serves as the country’s fragile…

MANILA, PHILIPPINES —  Japan and the Philippines announced on Saturday the start of negotiations for a defense pact that would allow troops to be deployed to each other’s territory, a move analysts say is largely prompted by China’s increasingly aggressive behavior in disputed waters. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Manila on a two-day official visit, during which Kishida described the countries’ bilateral relationship as in its “golden age.” Kishida expressed their shared “serious concerns” about increasing tensions in the East China Sea…

BEIJING —  The U.S. destroyer USS Rafael Peralta and a Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Ottawa transited the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, the U.S. 7th Fleet said in a statement, making their third joint transit in the region since June. Taiwan’s defense ministry said the two warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait in a northerly direction Wednesday night, adding it monitored the movement and the situation was “normal.” China followed and monitored the transit and handled the situation in line with the law and regulations, the People’s Liberation Army Eastern…

BANGKOK —  A Chinese fighter jet came within 10 feet of an American B-52 bomber flying over the South China Sea, nearly causing an accident, the U.S. military said, underscoring the potential for a mishap as both countries vie for influence in the region. In the night intercept, the Shenyang J-11 twin-engine fighter closed on the U.S. Air Force plane at an “uncontrolled excessive speed, flying below, in front of, and within 10 feet of the B-52, putting both aircraft in danger of a collision,” the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said…

MANILA, Philippines —  Two Philippine supply boats breached a Chinese coast guard blockade in the South China Sea on Wednesday in a recurring confrontation near a disputed shoal some fear could spark a larger security crisis that could draw in the United States. Two Philippine coast guard ships escorted the smaller supply boats, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether the ships were blocked by the Chinese coast guard from coming closer to the Second Thomas Shoal, where a small contingent of Filipino marines has stood guard for years aboard a…

MANILA —  Forces from Manila, Britain, Canada, Japan and the United States kicked off on Monday two weeks of joint naval exercises in Philippine waters as a “show of force”, amid flaring regional tension. With more than 1,800 participants, the drills follow last week’s move by Beijing to block Philippine fishermen from Asia’s most contested maritime feature, the Scarborough Shoal, held by China in the South China Sea. This year’s “Sama Sama” drills are being held in the southern part of the island of Luzon, featuring naval exercises in areas…