Free Republic

China's military "drove away" a US warship that illegally entered Chinese waters near the Paracel Islands on Monday, the country's armed forces said. "We urge the United States to immediately stop such provocative actions," the People's Liberation Army Southern Theatre Command said in a statement.

China has again put its military in a “high state of alert” after two US Navy warships recently sailed through the Taiwan Strait. Late last week the US destroyer John McCain sailed near the disputed Paracel Islands administered and militarized by China, upon which the PLA military warned the US to “halt its provocations”. The latest incident was Wednesday, when the Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer USS Barry passed through the strait. Washington was quick to emphasize that it was a “routine transit” like others toward the purpose of peaceful ‘freedom of navigation’ operations, while Beijing once again denounced the...

....State-run Chinese newspaper People’s Daily on Friday posted on its Twitter account a video of a long-range bomber landing in an island in the disputed waters. Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) said the video was taken at Woody Island, China’s largest base in the Paracel Islands that is also being claimed by Vietnam. “Chinese bombers including the H-6K conduct takeoff and landing training on an island reef at a southern sea area,”read the Twitter post by People’s Daily. With its deployment in the Paracels, AMTI said the bombers could now reach almost the entire South China Sea. “Nearly all...

Earlier this month, Senator John McCain indicated that it was time for the United States to consider selling lethal weapons to Vietnam after a 30-year embargo. The recent maritime standoff between Beijing and Hanoi over Chinese oil exploration off the central coast of Vietnam exposed Hanoi’s many strategic weaknesses. Providing Vietnam with coast guard and maritime systems as a first step - and eventually radar, fighter aircraft and spare parts for leftover American military equipment - would bolster Hanoi’s strategic capabilities vis-a-vis China and give substance to the "comprehensive partnership" announced last year between Hanoi and Washington. But more than...

<p>CEBU, Philippines — After years of wrangling, officials in Southeast Asia say they have reached consensus on a formula for easing tensions with China over disputed claims in the South China Sea.</p> <p>"It's a breakthrough," Lauro Baja, undersecretary for foreign affairs in the Philippines, told reporters before senior officials gathered in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei, for an annual meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.</p>