Free Republic

American and Chinese naval vessels clashed near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Wednesday, escalating tensions in the disputed waters, a Navy spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation. China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) accused the USS Higgins, a guided missile destroyer, of encroaching on its waters surrounding Scarborough Reef, while the Navy called the claim false and vowed to operate wherever international law allows. The U.S. warships were deployed for a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) following a Monday confrontation between Chinese vessels and the Philippine coast guard in the South China Sea.

A Chinese warship ploughed into its own coast guard vessel on Monday while the latter was chasing a Philippine vessel in the South China Sea, Manila said. Philippine coast guard officials were distributing aid to fishermen in the disputed Scarborough Shoal, Commodore Jay Tarriela said, when the Chinese coast guard "performed a risky manoeuvre" which inflicted "substantial damage" on the Chinese warship's forward deck. China confirmed that a confrontation took place and accused the Philippines of "forcibly intruding" into Chinese waters, but did not mention the collision. The South China Sea is at the centre of a territorial dispute between...

At least two killed in an apparent Israeli assassination in the Iranian city... The liberal pro-European Union Armenian Prime Minister...visiting Turkey... Confrontation in the South China Sea today as Philippine ships... A state of emergency declared in western Panama where demonstrators... "We're not prepared to negotiate with them anymore, as long as the aggression continues" That is Iran's Foreign Minister... Federal agents deploying tear gas and smoke...just outside Los Angeles... Los Angeles Dodgers...one million dollars...families impacted by the immigration crackdown... Spanish police raiding offices of the ruling Socialist Party... Illegal immigrants may still be able...President Trump suggesting.., The Louisiana law...

China has “enforced maritime management and exercised sovereign jurisdiction” over an uninhabited reef in the disputed South China Sea, planting the country’s flag on the tiny sand bank just kilometers from a key Philippine military outpost. Photographs released by Chinese state-run media on Saturday showed China Coast Guard officers unfurling the flag as part of an effort to effectively seize Sandy Cay reef, which Beijing calls Tiexian Jiao, earlier this month. The reef, located in the flash point Spratly Island chain, is also claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines. Sandy Cay also sits just over 3 kilometers from Thitu...

The U.S. State Department has removed a statement on its website that it does not support Taiwan independence, among changes that the island's government praised on Sunday as supporting Taiwan. The fact sheet on Taiwan retains Washington's opposition to unilateral change from either Taiwan or from China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own. But as well as dropping the phrase "we do not support Taiwan independence," the page has added a reference to Taiwan's cooperation with a Pentagon technology and semiconductor development project and says the U.S. will support Taiwan's membership in international organizations "where applicable."

What really happened to Malaysian Airlines fight MH370? 10 years ago... Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared from radar on 8 March 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to its intended destination in Beijing. But It never arrived and neither did the 227 passengers and 12 crew members whose family members have been in anguish ever since. What happened to their loved ones? Who's covering up the real story? 10 years have now passed and we finally might have some leads as to what caused this disappearance. Ashton Forbes has in many ways devoted his life to...

Malaysia announced on Friday it has agreed to launch a new search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared 10 years ago in one of aviation's greatest enduring mysteries. The Boeing 777 carrying 239 people disappeared from radar screens on March 8, 2014 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Despite the largest search in aviation history, the plane has never been found. Malaysia's prime minister said 17 days after the plane disappeared that, based on the satellite data, his government had concluded that the plane crashed down in a remote corner of the Indian Ocean, and that there...

The South China Sea remains a flashpoint of escalating tensions as China intensifies its aggressive maritime activities, targeting nations like the Philippines CNS Admiral Dinesh Tripathi during his customary briefing of media before Navy Day last week expressed concern about Chinese maritime activities in the South China Sea, all of which China claims. Two countries it especially targets in SCS are Taiwan and the Philippines in whose waters it has indulged in offensive naval actions. It signed a defence agreement with the US in 1951; last month it signed an intelligence and technology agreement facilitating satellite intelligence and access to...

An escalating series of clashes in the South China Sea between the Philippines and China could draw the U.S., which has a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, into the conflict. A 60 Minutes crew got a close look at the tense situation when traveling on a Philippine Coast Guard ship that was rammed by the Chinese Coast Guard... After the Chinese Coast Guard ship — 269 feet long and nearly twice the size of the Cape Engaño — pulled away, the Filipino crew found a three-and-a-half foot hole in the hull.... The ship Vega and her team was on...

After eight decades of dormancy, the US Marines have restored a historic World War II airstrip on Peleliu, a small island that is part of the Pacific nation Palau. This strategic move, completed after months of repairs by US naval engineers, saw the landing of a KC-130J long-range tanker aircraft on June 22. The move comes amid escalating tensions between China on one side, and Taiwan and the US on the other. The Peleliu airstrip is one of several bases the Americans are eyeing or have already prepared in the context of growing tensions in the South China Sea and...

OPINION China’s recent outcry over the alleged breach of ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ with the Philippines reveals a profound irony, given the history of its coercion and deceit There is a huge amount of insincerity and gall involved in the Chinese complaint that the Philippines had torn up the bilateral ‘Gentleman’s Agreement,’ between Beijing and Manila. While the term ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ has an implicit assumption of ‘trust’ as a fundamental tenet besting a relationship, which may otherwise not be legally binding -- to even imagine that there has been any element of ‘trust’ between these two sparing countries, is to put oneself...

Are you a betting man? As we look at the next six to nine months, as Americans, we know the many possibilities surrounding the coming election. President Trump could be returned to office, or Joe Biden could remain in place, or one or both could somehow be replaced on their respective party’s tickets. Anything is possible. We see the polls, which say President Trump is ahead. We also know our history, the history of the American electorate often voting against their own interest, and we know of the corrupt political machines famous for fabricating votes and stealing elections. All the...

The Philippines accused the China Coast Guard of blocking a Filipino supply vessel and damaging it with water cannon on Saturday morning (Mar 23) off a remote and contested South China Sea reef. The Philippine military said the nearly hour-long attack occurred off Second Thomas Shoal, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannon and collided with Filipino vessels in similar stand-offs in recent months. The military released video clips that showed a white ship repeatedly dousing another vessel sailing alongside it with a water cannon. One clip showed two white ships simultaneously firing water at the same vessel.

The South China Sea has once again become a focal point of international attention following sudden clashes between coast guard vessels of the Philippines and China. As tensions rise, the involvement of global powers like the US and Japan adds further complexity to the situation, potentially pushing more nations to align against Beijing. Amid these escalating tensions, it becomes imperative for China to reconsider its assertive stance and respect the existing global order to avoid further international backlash The South China Sea (SCS) has once again come into focus following sudden skirmishes between the coast guard vessels of the Philippines...

Australia has offered the Malaysian government support for a renewed search for the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, on the 10-year anniversary of the aircraft’s disappearance. On Friday, Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, and transport minister, Catherine King, said the government’s “sincere sympathies” remained with the loved ones of those who were onboard. “Despite coordinated efforts to locate the missing plane over the last decade, those who lost loved ones have not had the answers they seek. We recognise their ongoing heartache and grief,” the ministers said in a statement. “Australia coordinated what was one of the biggest search...

The PRC has adopted a sustained coercive campaign against the Philippines to seize its sovereign territory. The world is witnessing this aggression today in the South China Sea. Awarning from the 20th century is that dictatorships tend to use aggression not first against great powers but against smaller states. Hitler pressured Austria and seized the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia before seizing the rest of the Czech Republic, turning Slovakia into a protectorate, and seizing Memel (Klaipeda) from Lithuania. After checking Japan in 1938 and 1939 in the Far East, Stalin aggressed against Poland with his ally Nazi Germany before turning to...

South China Sea Collision This image released by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, shows a Chinese militia vessel, top, and Philippine coast guard vessel BRP Cabra as they approach Second Thomas Shoal, locally called Ayungin Shoal, at the disputed South China Sea on Sunday Oct. 22, 2023. (Armed Forces of the Philippines via AP) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The United States renewed a warning Monday that it would defend the Philippines in case of an armed attack under a 1951 treaty, after Chinese ships blocked and collided with two Filipino vessels off a contested shoal in the South...

The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once (nearly) said: “The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single dash line”. Recent Chinese activities in the South China Sea and Beijing’s claims of “indisputable sovereignty” inside the nine-dash line of China’s unilateral making show every sign of them taking this mantra seriously. The latest Chinese stunt was to place a buoyed net around the Scarborough shoal to prevent Filipino fishing there. Almost immediately the Philippine coast guard dismantled it but the minute their fishing boats returned they were aggressively intercepted by the Chinese Coast Guard. In terms of violating internationally recognised...

Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The Philippines said Monday it would take "all appropriate actions" to remove a floating barrier it accuses China of erecting in a disputed area of the South China Sea, a move that threatens to further fray fraught relations between the Asian neighbors.