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China passed a law on Friday that for the first time explicitly allows its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels, a move that could make the contested waters around China more choppy. China has maritime sovereignty disputes with Japan in the East China Sea and with several Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea. It has sent its coast guard to chase away fishing vessels from other countries, sometimes resulting in the sinking of these vessels. China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress standing committee, passed the Coast Guard Law on Friday, according to state media reports....

A rare #satellite image of what appears to be a #Chinese Type 093 sub at the entrance of a not-so-secret, subterranean base at China's southern #Hainan island. Yulin Naval Base is home to subs of #China’s South Sea Fleet and provides convenient access to the South China Sea. Google Maps: 18°12'09.5"N 109°41'40.3"E

Introduction: For the last 14 years I have produced an annual review of the buildup and modernization of the Chinese Navy, the People's Liberation Army Navy, or "PLAN" as it is called. At the time these reviewws started, the PLAN was just embarking on producing more mordern vessels, and had acquired a carrier, the old Soviet Varyag, which was the second in their Kuznetsov class, but which was sitting unfinished in Ukraine due to the fall of the Soviet Union. The Chinese indicated at the time that they were buying it through a private company to make it into...

President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907, at the dawn of what would be called the “American Century,” sent the Great White Fleet on a 14-month-long world cruise, Consisting of four naval squadron including four battleships each accompanied by their escorts, it was a signal that America had arrived as a world power and was going to be a player. By sending five warships into Alaskan territorial waters while President Obama visited the 49th state to eat bear-killed salmon, rename Mt. McKinley, and warn of non-existent climate change,, China has made a similar statement that it intends this to be the Chinese...

Just as China celebrates the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II with an extravagant parade designed to showcase the country’s military prowess and project Xi Jinping’s power to nervous onlookers in the West, the Pentagon says it has spotted five Chinese Navy ships in the Bering Sea, just off the coast of Alaska. Here’s WSJ: Five Chinese navy ships are currently operating in the Bering Sea, off the coast of Alaska, the first time the U.S. military has seen such activity in the area, Pentagon officials said Wednesday. The officials said they have been aware in recent...

WASHINGTON — The United States' top naval officer said the Navy’s growing presence in the Asia-Pacific region is beginning to show results and shape events, but acknowledges it will be ‘a long-term effort.’ Admiral Jonathan Greenert, the Chief of Naval Operations, said he hopes the U.S. Navy will be able to expand cooperation with India once its new government takes its place. Speaking Monday at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Greenert said the growing military-to-military dialogue with China is beginning to show results, especially in the South China Sea, where maritime tensions between China and its...

China Is Playing 'Chicken' With US Warships In The South China Sea GlobalPost Benjamin Carlson, GlobalPost Jan. 30, 2014, 7:51 AM HONG KONG — As anyone who has seen “Rebel Without a Cause” knows, playing chicken is dangerous for California teenagers in hot-rods. But playing chicken with warships, cruisers, and fighter jets — well, that’s just another level of crazy. Unfortunately, vessels from the US military and from other countries increasingly find themselves in such high-stakes confrontations on the East Asian seas, where China has adopted a strategy of making rivals flinch or risk collision. Just this week, Chinese sailors...

MANILA, Philippines — China is “literally testing the waters” to see how far it can go in provoking America’s tolerance with the plan to board foreign ships as an act of asserting its claim over virtually the entire South China Sea. Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said China has been appearing displeased by US military’s plan to “pivot” its presence to Asia following the planned pull-out of troops from Iran and Afghanistan. To indicate this sentiment, Santiago said China would make things difficult for the US, its Western allies who have been using the sea as a transit route and members of...

TOKYO (AP) — North Korea is developing a new mid-range ballistic missile that could reach as far as the U.S. territory of Guam, Japan's Defense Ministry said in an annual report released Tuesday. Japan is also concerned with China's increasing naval activity in the waters surrounding its shores .. The North Korean missile called the Musudan is based on Russian technology acquired in the 1990s and is designed for launch from mobile platforms, the ministry said in its 2011 white paper. Tuesday's report was the first time Japan has officially mentioned the missile by name.