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The U.S. involvement in the Western Pacific is necessary to reestablish a rules base order in the region to address the “bookend dangers” of excessive accommodation and aggressive containment of China, according to a new report from The Atlantic Council. Read More
USS Chafee (DDG 90) leaves Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on June 23, 2017. US Navy Photo
THE PENTAGON — Beijing officials issued a public complaint on Wednesday over a U.S. freedom of navigation operation in which a U.S. destroyer challenged excessive Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea. Read More
Creating a means for quickly de-escalating tense operations is the goal of a recently signed communications agreement between military leaders from the United States and China. Read More
USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) breaks away from the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) following a refueling-at-sea on June 17, 2017. US Navy Photo
A U.S. guided-missile destroyer came within 12 nautical miles of the contested Chinese installation built on an artificial island off the coast of the Philippines on Thursday, a defense official confirmed to USNI News. Read More
USS Stethem (DDG-63) operating in the Pacific on March 22, 2017. US Navy Photo
This post has been updated with a statement from U.S. Pacific Fleet.
A U.S. destroyer came within 12 nautical miles of a Chinese holding in the South China Sea, a U.S. defense official told USNI News on Sunday morning. 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
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
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
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 harbor on the South China Sea. Xinhua Photo
Complex situations in the Asia-Pacific region have forced the United States to both rely on China as a partner in deescalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula and admonish as an aggressor, with the U.S. vowing to push back with upcoming Freedom of Navigation operations in the South China Sea and pushing other countries to do the same, U.S. Pacific Command commander Adm. Harry Harris told lawmakers today. Read More
The followings is the Fiscal Year 2016 summary of the Department of Defense freedom of navigation operations. Read More
