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A LITTLE NOTICED organizational change in China's maritime patrols is causing increasing anxiety among Western military officials and their allies in the region, who fear Beijing is seeking new leverage to advance its goals and raising the likelihood that an accidental encounter could escalate into conflict. The U.S. confirmed earlier this year that China has reorganized its coast guard to serve as a military branch rather than answer to law enforcement authorities. Militarizing the formerly civilian organization provides China with the firepower to harass and intimidate vessels from other countries who dispute China's claims to waterways. The change, which Beijing...

PORT MORESBY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA — For the first time in its 20-year history, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit ended in disarray Sunday when the 21 member countries could not reach consensus on a joint statement because of objections by one member — China. When the summit failed, to the disgust of the other diplomats, Chinese officials broke out in applause. But that was only the final incident in a week during which China’s official delegation staged a series of aggressive, bullying, paranoid and weird stunts to try to exert dominance and pressure the host nation and everyone else into...

Rolando Galman was said to have been a thoughtful brother and neighbor, and Rogelio Moreno a caring husband and father. Both men were once farmers. The two men were also accused of firing the single shot that killed opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. on Aug 21, 1983, at the tarmac of the then Manila International Airport. Along with Aquino, Galman fell dead on the spot, his body shot by soldiers 16 times. Moreno is still alive, but was convicted of the accusation along with several others. Senator Aquino's murder in broad daylight at the heavily guarded tarmac sparked anger...

Possibly thinking a major U.S. aid package had been terminated, an enraged Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said “bye, bye” to America in retaliation Saturday and threatened to dissolve an agreement that allows U.S. troops to visit the Philippines. The Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. government aid agency, did not actually cancel the aid. Instead, the agency deferred a vote on the renewal of aid for the Philippines “subject of a further review of concerns around rule of law and civil liberties.” Duterte won the presidential election earlier this year largely based on his promise to aggressively target drug dealers and...

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.

<p>ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff has obtained a letter that an oil rig worker in Vietnam wrote to his employer claiming he saw Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 go down in flames.</p> <p>Mr. Woodruff tweeted an image of the letter saying, “Oil rig worker claims in employer confirmed letter-he saw the plane go down. Vietnamese say they found nothing.”</p>

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...

The Philippines is set to offer the US military use of eight bases, a military spokesman has said, after the country’s supreme court upheld a security agreement with Washington forged in the face of rising tensions with China. The facilities include the former US Clark airbase and air and naval facilities on the southwestern island of Palawan which faces the South China Sea, the focus of territorial disputes with China.

A new category appears to have been added to the Byzantine semantics of the US State Department. The Philippines now enjoys the distinction of being a "major non-NATO ally." Whatever that might mean, we will find out in due time. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been the center-of-gravity of American strategic engagements for five decades. During much of this period, the US was in strategic confrontation with the now-defunct USSR. NATO was the frontline organization during the Cold War. While NATO constituted the frontline of American strategic defense, the superpower concentrated her strategic military capability on the European...

Thirty governments have agreed to be named in public as supporters of a U.S. invasion of Iraq, and about 15 others are cooperating behind the scenes, the State Department said on Tuesday. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the basic criterion for inclusion of the published list was that the countries wanted to be publicly associated with the idea that Iraq has to be disarmed now. They are not necessarily providing any assistance to the U.S. war effort. The only allies known to be contributing offensive military forces are Britain and Australia, but the Danish government offered on Tuesday to...

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the leaders of the Philippines and Malaysia agreed Tuesday to hold a Cabinet-level meeting in Tokyo this summer to discuss East Asian development as part of broad cooperative measures between Japan and Southeast Asia.In separate meetings with visiting Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Koizumi asked for their countries' cooperation in participating in the meeting, and the two leaders welcomed the proposal, government officials said.Arroyo and Mahathir are in Japan to attend a private symposium.The so-called East Asia development initiative is a forum to discuss overall development policies for the...

Executioners Once By Julie S. Alipala in Isabela City, Basilan Newsbreak Contributing writer They joined the Abu Sayyaf in better times, when doing so meant spreading Islam and firing their guns for a noble cause, like revolution. Nothing good was happening here, anyway. Their politicians were building mansions instead of roads, and the independence fighters who were once their role models had sold their souls to government. Did they kidnap and behead non-Muslims? Yes, but only on very few occasions. The more urgent task at the time was the "Islamization" of Mindanao. Basier Hamja, 29, remembers those days a decade...