A Chinese People’s Armed Police guard on Tiananmen Square, in front of the portrait of Mao Zedong.
Because Beijing lacks the hard power of global military strength and the soft power to shape other nation’s attitudes through its economic diversity, one of China’s leading diplomatic scholars said it is not now in China’s interest as a rising power to try and take over the United States’ role in the world in maintaining international order. Read More
Sailors aboard Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett (DDG-104) man the rails as the ship arrives in Zhanjiang, China on June 12, 2017. US Navy Photo
A U.S. guided missile destroyer has pulled into southern China as part of a planned port visit with the People’s Liberation Army Navy. Read More
The following is the Pentagon’s annual report to Congress, Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2016. The report was released on June 6, 2017. Read More
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Tomomi Inada, the minister of defense for Japan, during the International Institute for Strategic Studies 16th Asia Security Summit in Singapore on June 3, 2017. DoD Photo
Beijing has issued a rebuke to U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis and his Japanese counterpart over comments on the South China Sea that Chinese leadership has deemed, “irresponsible.” Read More
F/A-18 Super Hornet flies by the flight deck of the Navy’s forward-deployed aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) on May 27, 2017. US Navy Photo
The U.S. Navy has begun dual-carrier operations with the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) and USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) in the Sea of Japan, a service official told USNI News on Wednesday. Read More
The following is the May 12, 2017 Congressional Research Service report, China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities — Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
Over the past three years, the U.S. and China have been at odds over the status of Chinese artificial islands in the South China Sea and U.S. Freedom of Navigation Operations. Read More
A P-3C Orion aircraft in 2016. US Navy Photo
Two Chinese fighters unsafely intercepted a U.S. Navy P-3C Orion anti-submarine warfare aircraft over the South China Sea this week, a U.S. defense official told USNI News on Friday. Read More
USS Dewey (DDG-105) transits the South China Sea on May 6, 2017. US Navy Photo
This post has been updated with additional information on the Dewey freedom of navigation operation.
A U.S. destroyer sailed within six nautical miles of a Chinese artificial island on Wednesday in the strongest challenge of hotly debated Chinese claims in the South China Sea, USNI News has learned. Read More
The Navy may embrace some lessons learned from the Littoral Combat Ship program as it shifts towards a new mentality of rapidly fielding capabilities, as outlined in a new Navy white paper, the chief of naval operations said. Read More
