South China Sea

October 8, 2024 12:17 PM

Myanmar and South China Sea to test ASEAN relevance in upcoming summit

Southeast Asian leaders will meet in Laos this week as Myanmar's civil war and mounting tensions in the South China Sea risk corroding the ASEAN grouping's central role in the region. The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has, since it was founded in 1967, created complex political structures and processes that have largely enabled peaceful cooperation within the region of over 685 million people. But its inability to address difficult issues in a timely way may reflect ...

September 16, 2024 3:31 PM

Maritime security to feature in talks with Singapore, says MEA ahead of PM Modi’s visit

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming visit to Singapore, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that discussions on maritime security will be a key agenda item during the talks with Singaporean leadership. "On maritime security and safety, of course, you know India's position on the South China Sea. In the case of Singapore as well, it is important for them to maintain sea lines of communication that are safe, secure, and free," said Jaideep Mazumdar, Secretary East at the ...

August 31, 2024 2:39 PM

China, Philippines accuse each other of ramming ships in South China Sea

China and the Philippines accused each other of ramming their ships in a disputed area of the South China Sea on Saturday, the latest in an escalating series of clashes in the vital waterway. China's coast guard said a Philippine ship, "illegally stranded" at the Sabina Shoal, had lifted anchor and "deliberately rammed" a Chinese vessel, while the Philippine coast guard said a Chinese vessel had "intentionally rammed" one of Manila's ships. Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, inc...

August 26, 2024 12:23 PM

Philippines says China’s South China Sea moves ‘aggressive, unprofessional and illegal’

The Philippine government slammed China on Monday for "repeated aggressive, unprofessional and illegal" actions in the South China Sea after a string of clashes and incidents on air and at sea over the past week. The Philippines' national maritime council said Chinese aircraft made unsafe manoeuvres against a civilian aircraft conducting patrols over the Scarborough shoal and Subi reef. On Sunday, Chinese vessels also "blocked, rammed and fired water cannons" against a government fisheries ves...

September 16, 2024 4:52 PM

Quad foreign ministers decry dangerous S. China Sea actions

Foreign ministers from Australia, India, Japan and the United States said on Monday they were seriously concerned about intimidating and dangerous manoeuvres in the South China Sea and pledged to bolster maritime security in the region. The joint statement came after talks between the so-called 'Quad' countries in Tokyo, attended by Australia's Penny Wong, India's Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Japan's Yoko Kamikawa and Antony Blinken from the U.S.. In security talks between the U.S. and Japan on Su...

June 18, 2024 9:08 PM

Treated as a pariah by the West, Putin set for warm welcome in Vietnam

Russian President Vladimir Putin is widely portrayed as a pariah in the West, but he looks set to receive a warm welcome when he visits Communist-ruled Vietnam this week. Vietnam is not a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued an arrest warrant for Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, and ties between Hanoi and Moscow have been strong for decades. Like Moscow, Hanoi also keeps a close eye on what is reported by national media, and Western advocacy groups say me...

September 16, 2024 6:44 PM

Chinese vessels maintain presence in East China Sea near disputed Senkaku islands for record 158 days

Chinese Coast Guard vessels have maintained an unprecedented presence in the waters surrounding the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea for a record 158 consecutive days, breaking the previous record set in 2021. The Japanese government has expressed grave concerns over the sustained presence of Chinese ships in the contiguous zone and instances of trespassing into territorial waters around the uninhabited islands, known as the Diaoyu Islands in China. "The Japanese gover...

September 16, 2024 6:42 PM

INS Kiltan arrives in Brunei as a part of South China Sea deployment

Indian Naval Ship (INS) Kiltan arrived at Muara, Brunei on Friday and was accorded a warm welcome by the Royal Brunei Navy. The visit is part of the Indian Navy's Eastern Fleet's operational deployment to the South China Sea region. According to the Ministry of Defence, this visit aims to further strengthen the friendship and cooperation between the two maritime nations. The naval engagement is focused on professional interactions, sports fixtures, social exchanges, and community outreach, refl...

May 24, 2024 1:33 PM

Taiwan deploys jets, mobile air defence system to monitor China drills

Taiwan’s defence forces deployed F-16 fighter jets, a mobile air defence system and a surveillance drone to monitor and shadow China’s drills around the island, footage released on Friday (May 24) showed. The two days of drills in the Taiwan Strait and around groups of Taiwan-controlled islands near the Chinese coast, which a Taiwanese official said included the mock bombing of foreign vessels, started just three days after new President Lai Ching-te took office. Taiwan has condemned China'...

May 23, 2024 9:58 AM

Taiwan dispatches forces to areas around island after China starts ‘punishment’ drill

Taiwan's military mobilized its forces and said it was confident it could protect the island, after China started two days of "punishment" drills around Taiwan on Thursday in what it said was a response to "separatist acts". The exercises, in the Taiwan Strait and around groups of Taiwan-controlled islands that sit next to the Chinese coast, come just three days after Lai Ching-te took office as Taiwan's new president, a man Beijing detests as a "separatist". China, which views democratically ...