A naval soldier of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) views through a pair of binoculars onboard China’s first aircraft carrier Liaoning as it visits a military harbour on the South China Sea. Xinhua Photo
Long before Tuesday’s ruling by an international arbitration panel against it, China has been moving toward turning an international waterway such as the South China Sea “into a Caribbean” where Beijing exerts its peacetime dominance, a leading Japanese defense expert said. Read More
Aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) and guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence (DDG-110) in the South China Sea. US Navy Photo
A vocal member of the Senate Armed Services Committee is calling for the U.S. Navy to challenge Chinese claims to artificial islands soon near the Philippines following a decision from an international tribunal that ruled against several Chinese claims in the South China Sea. Read More
The following is the a July 12, 2016 ruling from the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Arbitration Tribunal through the Permanent Court of Arbitration (at the Hague) on China and the Philippines overlapping claims in the South China Sea. Read More
Scarborough Shoal
Neither what China will do following the ruling on its dispute with the Philippines over coral reefs in the South China Sea is clear, nor is the United States response beyond “preserving space for a diplomatic solution.” Read More
Although the threat of a veto hangs over the defense policy bill if it includes a provision to take $18 billion from a wartime spending account to pay for modernization and readiness, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said the same thing was done when the Obama administration took office. Read More
Chinese Marines exercise in Thailand in May. Xinhua Photo
China’s declaration of a ‘no sail’ zone in the South China Sea is technically a violation of maritime law, but not a new move from Beijing, maritime experts and U.S. officials told USNI News on Thursday. Read More
Undated photo of Russian spy ship Pribaltika (SSV-80). Sources confirmed the ship is operating off the coast of Hawaii.
Moscow has dispatched a specialized spy ship off the coast of Hawaii with the likely mission to monitor the U.S. Navy led Rim of the Pacific 2016 exercise, USNI News has learned. Read More
Two Japanese Air Self Defense Forces F-15s in 2009. US Air Force Photo
Beijing claims a pair of Japanese fighters locked weapons radar on their planes over the East China Sea, while Tokyo denies the accusation. Read More
As law enforcement, the intelligence community and the private sector work more closely together to bring cyber attackers to ground, a senior Justice Department official said some nations and terrorist groups are marrying with organized crime to continue stealing what they want. Read More
Chinese and U.S. ships on June 25, 2016. Chinese Ministry of Defense Photo
CLARIFICATION: The PLAN ships bound for RIMPAC were accompanied by two ships from the Stennis Carrier Strike Group, not the entire CSG.
Five ships from the People’s Liberation Army Navy are training with ships from a U.S. carrier strike group ahead of next month’s Rim of the Pacific 2016 exercises, a Navy official confirmed to USNI News on Monday. Read More
