SOUTH CHINA SEA

The Philippine coast guard has opened a new monitoring base on a remote island occupied by Filipino forces in the disputed South China Sea as Manila ramps up efforts to counter China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the strategic waterway.

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr_ says the situation for his nation in the South China Sea “has become more dire.”.

As a U.S. Navy surveillance plane flew in circles, dozens of Chinese coast guard and accompanying ships chased and encircled Philippine vessels in the latest confrontation in the South China Sea.

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 says, underscoring the potential for a mishap as both countries vie for influence in the region.

The United States has renewed a warning that it would defend the Philippines in case of an armed attack after Chinese ships blocked and collided with two Filipino vessels in the South China Sea.

Philippine officials say a Chinese coast guard ship and an accompanying vessel rammed a Philippine coast guard ship and a military-run supply boat near a contested shoal.

Filipino officials say Canada will help the Philippines detect illegal fishing with its satellite surveillance system under a new agreement.

A Chinese coast guard ship came within a meter (3 feet) of colliding with a Philippine patrol ship it was trying to block in the South China Sea, in an alarming incident that intensified fears that territorial disputes in the waters could spark a larger crisis.

Two Philippine supply boats have breached a Chinese coast guard blockade in the South China Sea in a recurring confrontation near a disputed shoal some fear could spark a larger security crisis that could draw in the United States.

Thousands of soldiers from the United States, Indonesia, Australia and other allied forces demonstrated their armor capabilities in combat drills on the Indonesian island of Java at a time of increased Chinese aggression in the region.

In talks with Southeast Asian leaders Wednesday in the Indonesian capital, Chinese Premier Li Qiang underscored his country’s importance as the world’s second-biggest economy and as the top trading partner of the region.

Vice President Kamala Harris has left Washington for Indonesia, where she'll attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.

Taiwan’s defense ministry says China sent dozens of aircraft and vessels toward the island, just days after the United States approved a $500-million arms sale to Taiwan.

Two Philippine boats breached a Chinese coast guard blockade in a confrontation in the South China Sea to deliver food and other supplies to Filipino forces guarding a contested shoal.

Two Philippine security officials said that the United States, Japan and Australia are planning a joint navy drill this week in the South China Sea off the western Philippines after a recent show of Chinese aggression in the disputed waters.

Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press appear to show China is constructing an airstrip on a South China Sea island also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered an indefinite suspension of 22 major land reclamation projects in Manila Bay to allow a study of their environmental impact and legal compliance.

The Philippine government has summoned China's ambassador to convey a strongly worded diplomatic protest over the Chinese coast guard’s use of water cannons against Philippine vessels in a confrontation in the disputed South China Sea.

The Philippine military has condemned a Chinese coast guard ship's “excessive and offensive” use of a water cannon against a Filipino supply boat to block it from delivering new troops, food, water and fuel to a Philippine-occupied shoal in the disputed South China Sea.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry says China has sent 13 aircraft and 6 vessels to airspace and waters around Taiwan as of early Saturday.

State media have reported that Vietnam has banned distribution of the popular "Barbie" movie because it includes a view of a map showing disputed Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea.

The U.S. military says a Chinese fighter jet flew aggressively close to a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea, forcing the American pilot to fly through the turbulent wake.

Alarm over Myanmar’s deadly civil strife and China’s aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea will be under the spotlight this week when Southeast Asian leaders meet in Indonesia.

When two Philippine coast guard vessels set out to patrol the volatile South China Sea recently, they had to face more than China’s growing territorial ambitions.

A Chinese coast guard ship blocked a Philippine patrol vessel steaming into a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, causing a frightening near-collision in the latest act of Beijing’s aggression in the strategic waterway.

China's military has dispatched a pair of navy ships to take part in joint drills with Singapore's navy and join in a regional maritime security exhibition.

American and Filipino forces sank a ship with a barrage of high-precision rockets, airstrikes and artillery in their largest war drills in Philippine waters facing the disputed South China Sea which are likely antagonize China.

China’s foreign minister says his country is willing to work with the Philippines to resolve their differences, as tensions rise over Beijing’s behavior in the disputed South China Sea and Manila’s deeping military cooperation with the U.S. Foreign Minister Qin Gang held talks in Manila with his Philippine counterpart, Enrique Manalo.

U.S. and Filipino forces have blasted vehicles with anti-tank missiles in combat-readiness drills in the Philippines that are part of a show of American firepower that has alarmed China.

American and Filipino forces have launched their largest combat exercises in decades in Philippine waters across the disputed South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, where Washington has warned China over its increasingly aggressive actions.

The Philippine government has identified four new military camps, including some across the sea from Taiwan, where rotating batches of American forces will be allowed to be stationed indefinitely despite strong objections from China.

China is threatening “serious consequences” after the United States Navy sailed a destroyer around the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea for the second day in a row.

The U.S. is denying Chinese claims that its military had driven away an American guided-missile destroyer from operating around disputed islands in the South China Sea, in an incident that comes as tensions in the region between the two powers continue to rise.

The Philippine president says the Chinese coast guard’s use of military-grade laser against a Philippine patrol vessel in the disputed South China Sea was not enough for him to invoke a mutual defense treaty with the United States.

The United States has renewed a warning that it will defend its treaty ally if Filipino forces come under attack in the disputed South China Sea.

The United States Navy and Marine Corps are holding drills in the South China Sea at a time of heightened tensions with Beijing over the shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon.

A United States general has said that American forces and their allies in Asia are ready for battle after years of joint combat exercises.

The U.S. military says a Chinese fighter jet flew dangerously close to an Air Force reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea, forcing the American pilot to maneuver to avoid a collision.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will fly to a western Philippine island province at the edge of the South China Sea to amplify America’s support to its treaty ally and underline U.S. interest in freedom of navigation in the disputed waters.

U.S. and Philippine officials say the United States is seeking an expansion of its military presence in the Philippines.

A Philippine military commander says the Chinese coast guard has forcibly seized apparent Chinese rocket debris that was being towed by the Philippine navy, in the latest confrontation in the disputed South China Sea.

Vice President Kamala Harris is visiting the Philippines to underscore America’s commitment to defend its treaty ally.

Hainan island in the South China Sea says it will become China’s first region to ban sales of gasoline- and diesel-powered cars to curb climate-changing carbon emissions.

Rescue teams searching for missing crew members from a Chinese engineering ship that sank during a weekend storm have saved a fourth person and recovered 12 bodies.

Rescue services in Hong Kong say an industrial support ship operating in the South China Sea has sunk with the possible loss of more than two dozen crew members.

Australia says a Chinese fighter jet carried out dangerous maneuvers threatening the safety of one of its maritime surveillance planes over the South China Sea.

China is holding military exercises in the disputed South China Sea coinciding with U.S. President Joe Biden's visit to South Korea and Japan.

China says it has the right to develop South China Sea islands as it sees fit and is accusing the U.S. of undermining security in the disputed waterway.

A top U.S. commander says China has fully militarized at least three of several islands it built in the disputed South China Sea and has armed them with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, laser and jamming equipment, and fighter jets.

China’s top diplomat has accused Washington of trying to create an Asian version of the U.S.-European NATO military alliance and said it is up to the Biden administration to improve relations with North Korea.

The U.S. Navy says it has recovered an F-35C Lightning II aircraft that crashed while attempting to land on an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea in January, injuring seven sailors.

The Biden administration has approved a nearly $14 billion arms sale to Indonesia as the U.S. presses ahead with steps it believes will help counter China's increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.

The Philippines’ defense chief has rejected China’s renewed demand that it remove its outpost on a disputed South China Sea.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping says his country will not seek dominance over Southeast Asia or bully its smaller neighbors, despite a rise in regional frictions.

Chinese coast guard ships have blocked and used water cannons on two Philippine supply boats heading to a disputed shoal occupied by Filipino marines in the South China Sea.

Satellite images show China has built mock-ups of U.S. warships in its northwestern desert, possibly to practice for a future naval clash.

The U.S. Navy says a submarine that collided with an unknown underwater object in the South China Sea and was damaged has arrived in port at Guam.

In his first policy speech, new Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has promised to strengthen the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic in case of another resurgence and revive its battered economy while bolstering defenses against threats from China and North Korea.

The Chinese military flew 16 warplanes over waters south of Taiwan on Sunday as the United States expressed concern about what it called China’s “provocative military action” near the self-governing island that China claims.

Vice President Kamala Harris has urged Vietnam to join the U.S. in challenging what she called China’s “bullying” in the South China Sea.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has retracted a decision to end a key defense pact with the United States, allowing large-scale combat exercises between U.S. and Philippine forces that at times have alarmed China to proceed.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has met his Vietnamese counterpart to deepen cooperation in security and pandemic recovery, after Washington vowed support for Southeast Asian nations embroiled in territorial rifts with China.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is seeking to bolster ties with Vietnam, one of the Southeast Asian nations embroiled in a territorial rift with China, during a two-day visit.

The Biden administration has upheld a Trump-era rejection of nearly all significant Chinese maritime claims in the South China Sea.

A rocket carrying supplies for China’s new space station has blasted off from an island in the South China Sea.

China has issued its second protest in as many days over United States naval activity in the region, drawing an unusually sharp response from the U.S. 7th Fleet.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has discussed with his Philippine counterpart China’s recent positioning of “militia vessels” near the Philippines in the South China Sea.

The U.S. 7th Fleet that operates throughout the Indo-Pacific says more than 14,000 of its service members have received their full doses of the coronavirus vaccine, which it began administering on January 5.

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows Chinese vessels anchored the Whitsun Reef located in the disputed South China Sea. The United States said Tuesday its backing the Philippines in a new standoff with Beijing in the disputed South China Sea, where Manila has asked a Chinese fishing flotilla to leave a reef. China ignored the call, insisting it owns the offshore territory and that the vessels were sheltering from rough seas. Ad“This deployment at Whitsun Reef is not new, but the numbers are way up,” Poling told The Associated Press. China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have been locked in a tense territorial standoff over the resource-rich and busy South China Sea for decades.

In this March 7, 2021, photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard/National Task Force-West Philippine Sea, some of the 220 Chinese vessels are seen moored at Whitsun Reef, South China Sea. The Philippine government expressed concern after spotting more than 200 Chinese fishing vessels it believed were crewed by militias at a reef claimed by both countries in the South China Sea, but it did not immediately lodge a protest. A government watchdog overseeing the disputed region said about 220 Chinese vessels were seen moored at Whitsun Reef, which Beijing also claims, on March 7. Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin tweeted late Sunday the Philippines has filed a diplomatic protest over the Chinese presence. Chinese fishing fleets have long been suspected of being utilized as maritime militias to help assert Beijing’s territorial claims, although China has played down those claims.

Navy via AP)WASHINGTON – Activity by the U.S. Navy in its campaign to challenge China's efforts to restrict transit in the South China Sea and in the Taiwan Strait increased sharply over the past two years. And Navy ships sailed through the Taiwan Strait 13 times in 2020, the highest number of transits in at least 14 years. AdChina claims ownership over virtually the entire South China Sea and has built military installations on reefs and atolls by covering them with sand and concrete. To erode China’s claims on the South China Sea, U.S. ship conduct "freedom of navigation” operations, sailing into international waters that China is trying to claim as its own. The U.S. ship transits through the Taiwan Strait, which divides China and Taiwan, are viewed by Beijing as provocative.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration on Thursday imposed new sanctions on Chinese officials over Beijing's increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea. The penalties are yet another Trump administration move that may make President-elect Joe Biden's diplomacy with China more difficult when he takes office next week. On Wednesday, the administration banned the import to the U.S. of some agricultural goods, provoking an angry response from Beijing. Thursday's move affects Chinese officials and others involved in South China Sea activities. The announcement did not specific which officials would be targeted but many may be covered under previous actions,In July, Pompeo announced that the U.S. would reject virtually all of China's maritime claims in the South China Sea, which are disputed by most of China's smaller neighbors.

Pompeo renewed the Trump administration's rhetorical onslaught against China in Indonesia on Thursday as the American presidential election looms. ”I know the Chinese Communist Party has tried to convince Indonesians to look away from the torments your fellow Muslims are suffering." Earlier, in an appearance with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Pompeo took China to task for threatening its neighbors. But in a July 13 statement, Pompeo said the U.S. now regards virtually all Chinese maritime claims outside its internationally recognized waters to be illegitimate. “The Chinese Communist Party is a predator," he said.

U.S.-China friction has flared again, with Beijing firing back at accusations by Washington that it is a leading cause of global environmental damage and has reneged on its promise not to militarize the South China Sea. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)BEIJING – U.S.-China friction flared again Monday, with Beijing firing back at accusations by Washington that it is a leading cause of global environmental damage and has reneged on its promise not to militarize the South China Sea. The U.S. is the “greatest danger to the global environment," Wang told reporters at a daily briefing. China claims virtually the entire South China Sea for itself and Wang said it was entitled to proceed as it saw fit on the islands, especially when it came to exercising its right to self-defense. “The international community and regional countries must be highly vigilant and resolutely oppose the sinister plot of some U.S. warmongers to sow chaos in the South China Sea and East Asia," Wang said.

At the same time, Duterte spotlighted Filipino health care workers' contribution to the virus fight at home and around the globe. Duterte, who took office in 2016, often lashes out at what he decries as international meddling in Philippine domestic affairs. Western governments and human rights groups see it as expressing justifiable alarm about an anti-drug crusade that has left more than 5,700 mostly poor suspects dead. Duterte has denied authorizing extrajudicial killings but has repeatedly and openly threatened drug dealers with death. “We firmly reject attempts to undermine” a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated most of China’s claims, Duterte said.

BEIJING China on Thursday accused the United States of violating international law by imposing sanctions on officials and companies involved in Beijings military buildup in the disputed South China Sea, but gave no indication of how it might retaliate. The sanctions add to conflict over control of the sea, one of the worlds busiest shipping lanes. China will take firm measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of its enterprises and individuals, Zhao said. China is currently holding live-fire military exercises in both the South and East China Seas and a Hong Kong newspaper reported Thursday that the military test-fired two missiles into the South China Sea, including one seen as specifically designed to attack a U.S. aircraft carrier. The DF-26B and DF-21D missiles fired Wednesday targeted an area between the southern island province of Hainan and the Paracel Islands, the South China Morning Post reported, citing unidentified sources close to the Chinese military.

BEIJING China is protesting the alleged incursion of a U.S. Air Force U-2 spy plane into a no-fly zone imposed during live-fire military exercises in the countrys north. The statement said the exercises were being staged by Chinas Northern Theater Command but gave no details as to their exact time and place. China is also staging naval drills in the South China Sea, which it claims virtually in its entirety but over which five other governments also exercise claims. The defense ministry also announced earlier this month that the Eastern Theater Command held integrated combat exercises" in the Taiwan Strait and surrounding waters. China claims Taiwan, a self-governing democracy and close U.S. ally, as a part of its territory and threatens to use military force to bring it under its control.

FILE - In this July 6, 2020, file photo provided by U.S. Navy, the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76, front) and USS Nimitz (CVN 68, rear) Carrier Strike Groups sail together in formation, in the South China Sea. The U.S. Navy says the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan and its strike group entered the South China Sea earlier in August, 2020, and have been carrying out air operations. Navy via AP, File)WASHINGTON The Trump administration said Wednesday it is imposing sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for Beijings military build-up in the South China Sea. The State Department announced it had hit an unspecified number of Chinese officials and business executives responsible for the militarization of disputed South China Sea areas with travel bans. The United States will act until we see Beijing discontinue its coercive behavior in the South China Sea, and we will continue to stand with allies and partners in resisting this destabilizing activity.

BEIJING China on Tuesday described a U.S. rejection of its maritime claims in the South China Sea as completely unjustified and accused the U.S. of attempting to sow discord between China and the Southeast Asian countries with which it has territorial disputes. The Chinese Embassy in Washington said that a statement issued by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo deliberately distorts the facts and disregards the efforts of China and the others to achieve peace and stability in the South China Sea. Pompeos statement was a major change in South China Sea policy, said Zhu Feng, the director of a South China Sea studies center at Nanjing University. The U.S. didn't used to comment on the sovereignty issue in the South China Sea, because it itself is not the claimant, Zhu said. He is making the China issue the most important topic for his election to cover his failure in preventing the epidemic and to divert public attention.

In this photo provided by U.S. Navy, the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) and USS Nimitz (CVN 68) Carrier Strike Groups steam in formation, in the South China Sea, Monday, July 6, 2020. China on Monday, July 6, accused the U.S. of flexing its military muscles in the South China Sea by conducting joint exercises with two U.S. aircraft carrier groups in the strategic waterway. Navy via AP)WASHINGTON U.S. officials say the Trump administration is poised to escalate its actions against China by stepping squarely into one of the most sensitive regional issues dividing them and rejecting outright nearly all of Beijings significant maritime claims in the South China Sea. The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire, a draft of the statement says. Last week, China angrily complained about the U.S. flexing its military muscle in the South China Sea by conducting joint exercises with two U.S. aircraft carrier groups in the strategic waterway.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the 36th ASEAN Summit in Hanoi, Vietnam Friday, June 26, 2020. Leaders from the Southeast Asian ten-nation bloc hold the bi-annual summit via online video conference to discuss regional issues. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)HANOI Southeast Asian leaders are holding an annual summit Friday by video to show unity and discuss a regional emergency fund to tame the immense crisis wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. The long-divisive South China Sea conflicts are also in the spotlight. Vietnam, the current ASEAN chair, had planned face-to-face meetings, but most member states assessed it was still too risky for leaders to travel.