Free Republic

China has just had a run-in with its only friend in the South China Sea, and that could complicate matters for Beijing as it continues to try to take a more aggressive stance in the region. On March 19, an official Indonesian vessel detained a Chinese fishing trawler that was operating in Indonesia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the coast of the Natuna islands. The islands are on the periphery of the South China Sea, and their EEZ abuts China's self-declared Nine-Dash Line, which Beijing uses to mark its claims in the region. In the past, Indonesia has not had...

China’s ambassador to Indonesia is being summoned over a standoff involving a trawler in the South China Sea, an incident an international expert described as so serious it could alter Indonesia’s foreign policy. Susi Pudjiastuti, Indonesia’s minister for fisheries and maritime affairs, told reporters he would summon the Chinese ambassador, Xie Feng, on Monday to discuss a Chinese fishing trawler accused of illegally fishing in Indonesian waters. Indonesian authorities attempted to capture the trawler on Saturday and arrest the Chinese crew. But they were stopped by a Chinese coast guard boat that reportedly “rammed” the trawler and pushed it back...

MANILA, Philippines – The Chinese have taken over another traditional Filipino fishing ground near Palawan where they have stationed up to five ships to keep local fishermen at bay, sources said. Now effectively under Chinese control is Quirino or Jackson Atoll, which has been a rich source of catch for a long time for fishermen from Palawan, Southern Luzon, Western Visayas and even Manila. Gray and white Chinese vessels have not left the atoll, which Filipino fishermen also call Jackson Five, because of the existence of five lagoons in the area. The Chinese are claiming almost the entire South China...

Fox News reported that China had moved surface-to-air missiles to the Paracels, identifying them as two batteries of the HQ-9 system, along with radar targeting arrays. The missiles have a range of about 125 miles, making them a threat to all forms of civilian and military aircraft. The move would follow China's building of new islands in the disputed sea by piling sand atop reefs and then adding airstrips and military installations. They are seen as part of Beijing's efforts to claim virtually the entire South China Sea and its resources, which has prompted some of its wary neighbors to...

The United States and India have held talks about conducting joint naval patrols that a U.S. defence official said could include the disputed South China Sea, a move that would likely anger Beijing, which claims most of the waterway. Washington wants its regional allies and other Asian nations to take a more united stance against China over the South China Sea, where tensions have spiked in the wake of Beijing's construction of seven man-made islands in the Spratly archipelago. India and the United States have ramped up military ties in recent years, holding naval exercises in the Indian Ocean that...

story from AP, so, not risking an excerpt.

The Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong has received a pilot’s report that a large amount of debris was spotted in Vietnamese waters. The pilot, flying a Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur plane, says the debris is located about 60 kilometres southeast of Vietnamese city Vung Tau, some 500 kilometers from where the Malaysian jetliner lost contact with air traffic controllers. The department has submitted the message to the relevant authorities.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Now, the Malaysian airline. I've got a theory. Let me try this theory on you. Of all the search teams, which do you think is the best, has the highest available tech? Well, you got a ChiCom search team; you got the Malaysian airline search team; you got a US search team. Which team do you think probably -- (interruption) It is us. If you want to find out where the plane is, my theory is look at where the US is searching. How about this? How about this theory? How about the jet is flying along...

China has finished construction on a second 10,000-ton China Coast Guard (CCG) cutter destined for patrols in the South China Sea, Chinese state media reports. The ship, designated CCG 3901, “has been completed recently and is ready to start protecting China’s maritime rights,” The Global Times announced. A sister ship, the CCG2901, already deployed to the East China Sea in 2015. The CCG 3901, constructed at Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard, has been dubbed the ‘monster’ by the media due to its unusual large size for a coast guard vessel. According to some sources, the vessel could have a displacement 12,000 to...

A Chinese attack submarine conducted a simulated cruise missile attack on the aircraft carrier USS Reagan during a close encounter several weeks ago, according to American defense officials. The targeting incident near the Sea of Japan in October violated China's 2014 commitment to the multinational Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, known as CUES, designed to reduce the risk of a shooting incident between naval vessels, said officials familiar with details of the encounter they described as "serious." A section of the non-binding 2014 agreement states that commanders at sea should avoid actions that could lead to accidents or mishaps....

KUALA, LUMPUR – Asia-Pacific leaders gathered Sunday for an annual summit where they condemned terrorism but remained apart on growing tensions in the disputed South China Sea.

BEIJING, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Exchanges of blame in past months have drawn attention to the South China Sea. At least one thing is now certain: There is no issue with freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. [....] Meanwhile, China's rights and interests in the South China Sea, backed by abundant historical evidence, should be respected. Using freedom of navigation and flight as an excuse to damage China's sovereignty and security is an unwise and dangerous move. [....] Meanwhile, China's rights and interests in the South China Sea, backed by abundant historical evidence, should be respected. Using freedom...

The United States flew two B-52 bombers over the weekend near man-made islands constructed by China in the South China Sea, a U.S. official told The Hill, in a clear challenge to China's territorial claims to the area. The bombers made one pass within 12 nautical miles of the islands...

In a legal setback for Beijing, an arbitration court in the Netherlands ruled on Thursday that it has jurisdiction to hear some territorial claims the Philippines has filed against China over disputed areas in the South China Sea. Manila filed the case in 2013 to seek a ruling on its right to exploit the South China Sea waters in its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as allowed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected Beijing’s claim that the disputes were about territorial sovereignty and said additional hearings...

This week, Barack Obama sent a guided missile destroyer into disputed waters in the South China Sea to see if the Chinese would start shooting at it. Yes, this is what he actually did. Fortunately for us, the Chinese backed down and did not follow through on their threats to take military action. Instead, the Chinese have chosen to respond with very angry words. The Chinese ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, says that what Obama did was “a very serious provocation, politically and militarily.” And as you will see below, a state-run newspaper stated that China “is not...

A newly contentious phase appears to be under way in the South China Sea, where China has made expansive territorial claims, after the head of US naval operations said today in Tokyo that US vessels are free to travel “wherever international law allows." Echoing earlier remarks by US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, John Richardson, the US chief of naval operations, stated that, "It should not come as a surprise to anybody that we will exercise freedom of navigation wherever international law allows.” He added that "I don't see how this can be interpreted as provocative." A Chinese spokesman responded by...

A teenager hunting for birds in the jungle of a Philippine island claims to have stumbled upon a fuselage “full of skeletons” and a Malaysian flag, and authorities believe it could be from missing Flight MH370. The coastal wreckage in Tawi Tawi was under investigation by local authorities in Malaysia’s Sabah region Monday. The finding was reported by Jamil Omar of Borneo, 46, who says his nephew made the grim discovery in September, but didn’t realize what it was as he has no access to television or newspapers.

MH370 speculation has been sparked again after reports of plane wreckage containing human remains and a Malaysian flag - on the Philippines. Audio and visual technician Jamil Omar went into a police station on Saturday to lodge the report after a relative spotted wreckage on the Tawi Tawi island in the south of the country, it has been reported. The Philippines is thousands of miles east of the last known radar location of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight, which vanished in March last year. And Tawi Tawi is 4,700 miles from Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, where confirmed MH370...

America's power is being tested to a greater extent, than in the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1961. Russia is attacking the Al-Qaeda linked terrorist organization, the Free Syrian Army, which is a so-called ally of America. China indicated that it will join the military strikes against the anti-Assad forces, because China considers Assad as an ally: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/100915-774990-china-joining-russia-to-humiliate-us-weakened-by-obama.htm China is now ready to fight to defend its unilateral control of the Spratley Islands in the South China Sea. Does America have enough military power to defeat a combined force of Russia and China?

On Friday, we reported the latest provocation in what has truly become a very dangerous, if largely pointless, staring contest between Beijing and Washington over China’s reclamation of land in The South China Sea. Responding to suggestions that the US was set to sail warships around the islands Beijing has constructed atop reefs in the Spratlys, China served noticed that it would “never allow any country to violate China's territorial waters and airspace in the Spratly Islands, in the name of protecting freedom of navigation and overflight.” This was simply a formalized version of the more concise phrasing the PLA...