Chinese Embassy News

The U.S. Coast Guard has rejected comments by a Chinese diplomat that its recent boardings of Chinese fishing boats in the Pacific Islands alongside local police are illegal, saying the joint patrols are at the behest of Pacific nations to protect coastal fisheries.Reuters reported last month that six Chinese fishing boats were found to be violating Vanuatu's fisheries law after being inspected by local police who were on board the first U.S. Coast Guard boat to patrol the waters of the Pacific Islands nation.China's Ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong…

The U.S. military will not be involved in development of a port in the Philippines' remote northernmost islands near Taiwan, the local governor said, removing a potential source of friction with China over the U.S. presence in the region.The governor of the Batanes islands, less than 200 km (125 miles) from Taiwan, said in August she had sought U.S. funding for a new port there. The U.S. embassy had at the time confirmed its diplomats and U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) experts had…

The U.S. Coast Guard and Kiribati police boarded two Chinese fishing boats during a patrol against illegal fishing in the Pacific Islands nation's vast exclusive economic zone this month but found no issues aboard, a coast guard official said.The United States is seeking a bigger role for its coast guard in helping remote Pacific Islands nations monitor millions of kilometres of ocean - a rich tuna fishing ground - a move that also boosts surveillance as a rivalry with China over security ties in the region intensifies.Reuters reported on Friday that Chinese police are working in Kiribati…

The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on hundreds of people and entities, including in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, as it targets Russia's sanctions evasion, future energy capabilities, banks and its metals and mining sector.The U.S. Treasury and State departments targeted more than 250 individuals and entities in Washington's latest action attempting to crack down on Russia and its evasion of sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies over the war in…

The Philippines on Sunday accused China's coast guard of installing a "floating barrier" in a disputed area of the South China Sea, saying it prevented Filipinos from entering and fishing in the area.Manila's coast guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources "strongly condemn" China's installation of the barrier in part of the Scarborough Shoal, Commodore Jay Tarriela, a coast guard spokesperson, posted on the X social media platform, formerly Twitter.The barrier blocking fishermen from the shoal was depriving them of their fishing and livelihood activities…

Taiwan hopes to deploy at least two new, domestically developed submarines by 2027, and possibly equip later models with missiles, to strengthen deterrence against the Chinese navy and protect key supply lines, the head of the program said.Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has made the indigenous sub program a key part of an ambitious project to modernise its armed forces as Beijing stages almost daily military exercises to assert its sovereignty.President Tsai Ing-wen…

China's "aggressive behaviour" in the South China Sea, including the use of water canon by its coast guard against a Philippine vessel, must be challenged and checked, the commander of the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet said on Sunday.Vice Admiral Karl Thomas assured the Philippines of U.S. backing in the face of "shared challenges" in the region, saying: "My forces are out here for a reason."The largest of the U.S. Navy's forward-deployed fleets, the Seventh Fleet, headquartered in Japan…

Two U.S. Navy sailors have been arrested on charges of handing over sensitive national security material to China, U.S. officials said Thursday.Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, was charged with conspiracy and bribetaking in connection with taking nearly $15,000 in exchange for photographs and videos of sensitive U.S. military information, the officials said. U.S. Navy sailor, Jinchao Wei, whose age was not disclosed, was charged with conspiring to send national defense information…

The Philippines and the United States are discussing conducting joint coast guard patrols, including in the South China Sea, a Manila official said on Monday.With overlapping sovereign claims in the strategic waterway, the Philippines has ramped up rhetoric against what it describes as China's "aggressive activities" in the South China Sea, which has also become a flashpoint for Chinese and U.S. tensions around naval operation.Jay Tarriela, the Philippine Coast Guard's (PCG) spokesperson on South China Sea issues…

Indonesia has deployed a warship to its North Natuna Sea to monitor a Chinese coast guard vessel that has been active in a resource-rich maritime area, the country's naval chief said on Saturday of an area that both countries claim as their own.Ship tracking data shows the vessel, CCG 5901, has been sailing in the Natuna Sea, particularly near the Tuna Bloc gas field and the Vietnamese Chim Sao oil and gas field since Dec. 30, the Indonesian Ocean Justice Initiative told Reuters.A warship…

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Sunday reported a recent incident of "close distance maneuvering" by a Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) vessel in the disputed South China Sea that "constrained" the movement of a Philippine ship sailing nearby.The March 2 incident took place during the PCG's maritime patrol operations around the Scarborough Shoal, locally known as Bajo de Masinloc, the PCG said in a news release.It was yet unclear whether the Philippines had lodged a diplomatic protest for the incident.

Malaysia summoned the Chinese ambassador to Kuala Lumpur on Monday to express its protest against the “encroachment” into its waters by Beijing’s vessels, the foreign ministry said.The protest was over the “presence and activities” of Chinese vessels, including a survey vessel, in Malaysia’s Exclusive Economic Zone off the coasts of the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.It did not say when the vessels were detected in Malaysian waters.“Malaysia’s consistent position and actions are based on international law…

Japan's defense ministry said on Sunday that a submarine believed to be from China was spotted in waters near its southern islands, as maritime tensions persist in the Pacific.Japan's navy on Friday morning identified a submerged vessel sailing northwest just outside territorial waters near Amami Oshima island, part of Kagoshima prefecture, the ministry said in a statement. A Chinese destroyer was also spotted in the vicinity.Tokyo has complained of numerous intrusions by Chinese vessels into its territorial waters and near disputed islands in recent years.

Australia is reviewing the 99-year lease of a commercial and military port in the country's north to a Chinese firm, a government source said on Monday, a move that could further inflame tensions between Beijing and Canberra.Australia overhauled its foreign investment laws late last year, giving the government the retrospective power to impose new conditions or even force a divestment on deals that have already been approved.Defense officials are looking into whether the Landbridge Group…

The Philippines expressed concern about hundreds of Chinese military vessels it said were spotted this month in the disputed South China Sea, the latest example of tension in the crucial waterway.The Philippine Coast Guard reported that some 220 vessels, believed to be manned by Chinese maritime militia personnel, were seen moored in line formation at a reef on March 7, a cross-government task force said late on Saturday.Foreign minister Teodoro Locsin, asked whether he would file a diplomatic protest over the ships’ presence, told a journalist on Twitter: “Only if the generals tell me.

The United States on Wednesday blacklisted 24 Chinese companies and targeted individuals it said were part of construction and military actions in the South China Sea, its first such sanctions move against Beijing over the disputed strategic waterway.The U.S. Commerce Department said the two dozen companies played a “role in helping the Chinese military construct and militarize the internationally condemned artificial islands in the South China Sea.”Separately, the State Department said it would impose visa restrictions on Chinese individuals “responsible for…

Ecuador's armed forces said on Tuesday that dozens of vessels from a predominantly Chinese fishing fleet that is operating near the Galapagos Islands have turned off tracking systems to prevent monitoring of their activities.Of around 325 ships still fishing in the waters near the ecologically sensitive Galapagos, 149 have at some point in recent months cut off communications, Navy Commander, Rear Admiral Darwin Jarrin told reporters.Some had also changed the vessels' names to avoid supervision, he said."In this period, 149 ships have turned off their satellite systems ...

The United States on Monday rejected China’s disputed claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea, a move that Beijing criticized as inciting tensions in the region and which highlighted an increasingly testy relationship.China has offered no coherent legal basis for its ambitions in the South China Sea and for years has been using intimidation against other Southeast Asian coastal states, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.“We are making clear: Beijing’s claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful…

Sri Lanka is shifting a naval base to a port built and controlled by China, it said on Monday, a move that will strengthen security at a harbor that foreign powers fear China could use for military purposes.The base currently in the tourist district of Galle will be moved 125 km (80 miles) east along Sri Lanka's southern coast to Hambantota, nearer a main shipping route between Asia and Europe.The $1.5 billion deepwater port is likely to play a major role in China's "Belt and Road" initiative and is under a 99-year lease to China Merchants Port Holdings at a cost of $1.12 billion.Government and diplomatic sources have told Reuters that the United States, India and Japan have raised concerns that China might use the port as a naval base.The Sri Lankan government and Chinese embassy in Colom

China is using the coronavirus as a cover to push territorial claims in the South China Sea through a surge in naval activity meant to intimidate other countries that claim the waters, the commander of U.S. Forces in Japan said on Friday.There has been a surge of activity by China in the South China Sea with navy ships, coast guard vessels and a naval militia of fishing boats in harassing vessels in waters claimed by Beijing, said Lieutenant General Kevin Schneider.“Through the course of the COVID crisis we saw a surge of maritime activity,” he told Reuters in a phone interview.

A Chinese oil survey vessel that has been embroiled in a tense standoff with Vietnamese vessels in the South China Sea left Vietnamese-controlled waters on Thursday after more than three months, marine data showed.The Chinese vessel, the Haiyang Dizhi 8, was speeding away from Vietnam's exclusive economic zone towards China on Thursday under the escort of at least two Chinese ships, according to data from Marine Traffic, a website that tracks vessels.China claims almost all the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea but neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.Tension between Hanoi and Beijing…

Indonesia has summoned China’s ambassador to clarify the deaths of four Indonesian crew from two Chinese-flagged vessels, Indonesia’s foreign ministry said, after rights groups alleged the crew were mistreated and exploited.The ministry issued a statement after a video was circulated on social media, appearing to show a burial at sea aboard a Chinese-flagged ship. The footage showed a group of men praying around an orange body bag before it was tossed into the ocean.A Chinese…

Indonesia has increased patrols around islands near the disputed South China Sea after a Chinese coast guard vessel "trespassed" into Indonesia's exclusive economic zone, authorities said on Friday.The Chinese vessel entered waters off the coast of the northern Natuna islands in mid-December, leading Indonesian foreign ministry to issue a “strong protest” and summon the Chinese ambassador in Jakarta.Speaking in Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang…