Tag: China
China Expands Coast Guard Patrols East of Taiwan
China sent Coast Guard vessels into waters east of Taiwan again on Friday, extending a campaign Taipei says is designed to normalize Chinese law-enforcement authority around the island's Pacific approaches.Taiwan detected two China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels on July 31, one about 151 nautical miles east of Orchid Island, according…
Chinese MANPADS Could Complicate America’s Iran Air War
Iran may be weeks away from receiving hundreds of Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defense systems, giving Tehran a weapon unlikely to reverse U.S. dominance in the air but potentially capable of making some of the most dangerous American missions even harder. There is already a combat case suggesting the risk is not…
Iran Turns to Chinese Missiles for Air Defense
Iran is preparing to receive 300 to 400 Chinese-made man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS), including QW-12 and FN-16 missiles, three sources familiar with the deal told Reuters. First deliveries could arrive within weeks.The reported purchase comes as Tehran rebuilds an air-defense network degraded by months of U.S. and Israeli strikes. Iranian…
Houthis Target Saudi Tanker as China Talks Safe Passage
Yemen's Houthis said Tuesday they fired ballistic missiles at the Saudi-flagged tanker NCC Ghazal in the Red Sea, alleging it had ignored blockade warnings, and claimed the missiles forced it to reverse course, according to Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree. The tanker had last shown on AIS tracking near Yanbu,…
U.S. Missile Shortages Raise Risks From Ukraine to Taiwan
U.S. officials fear Russia and China may factor depleted American missile-interceptor stocks into decisions on Ukraine, Europe and Taiwan, after the Iran war consumed a share of critical air-defense munitions, The New York Times reported Sunday. That is an assessment of strategic risk, not evidence either leader has decided on…
Taiwan Expands China War Drills Beyond Battlefield
Taiwan is expanding its annual war games to test whether the island's factories, supply routes and communications networks can keep functioning during a Chinese attack, adding new industrial and civilian resilience measures to next month's Han Kuang exercises.The August 5–14 drills will simulate Beijing using what appears to be a…
China–Philippines Sea Clashes Escalate in Days
Chinese and Philippine forces were involved in three confrontations at two disputed South China Sea shoals between July 20 and 24, leaving two Philippine personnel injured and government vessels exposed to water cannons and dangerous close manoeuvres.None of the incidents crossed into armed conflict. Their frequency and increasingly physical character,…
China Learns War Through Russia
Trading Blood for BlueprintsSince 2024, Chinese personnel have trained at a facility near Volgograd also used by Russia's 8th Combined Arms Army, one of the formations that has fought in eastern Ukraine – The Economist reported, citing European intelligence. The confirmed curriculum there covers drone warfare and urban combat. Separately,…
China, Philippines Summon Envoys After Shoal Clash
China and the Philippines moved to summon each other’s ambassadors on Tuesday, a day after a confrontation at Second Thomas Shoal left a Filipino sailor with a head injury and damaged a Philippine Navy rubber boat. The reciprocal diplomatic action, unusual despite repeated maritime confrontations, marked a sharper turn than…
Japan Builds First Postwar Intelligence Agency
Japan is building its first centralized intelligence agency since World War II, launching a National Intelligence Bureau this summer with roughly 700 staff under a council chaired by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, according to The New York Times.That structural phase, passed by the Diet in May, is the easier half…
