The Global Times News

Five people were killed after a barge collided with a bridge over a waterway in China's Pearl River Delta near Guangzhou city, causing part of the bridge to break off, plunging vehicles into the water, Chinese state media reported on Thursday.The barge was travelling from Foshan city to a southern district of Guangzhou when it crashed into the bridge at 5:30 a.m. (2130 GMT) on the Hongqili Waterway, the Guangzhou Maritime Safety Administration said in a statement.Images on state…

Chinese state media warned on Friday that a report by a prominent U.S. think tank on the military uses of Chinese scientific research across the Indian Ocean gave "ammunition" to countries bent on concocting threats from China.The report this week by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) "comes at a time when some countries need to manufacture a 'China threat' narrative in the Indian Ocean region and provides them with ammunition", the state-controlled tabloid Global Times said in an editorial."The timing of this report is delicate…

Chinese state media unveiled new images of China's most advanced aircraft carrier yet, including next generation launch tracks that can catapult a wider range of aircraft from its deck.First shown to the public in June 2022, the Fujian was entirely designed and built domestically.Yet to conduct its first sea trials, the aircraft carrier is larger and technologically more advanced than the Shandong, commissioned in 2019, and the Liaoning, which China bought second-hand from Ukraine in 1998 and refitted domestically.On state television late on Tuesday…

The United States welcomes competition and does not seek conflict with Beijing, but will speak up on issues like maritime disputes in the South China Sea, Vice President Kamala Harris said on Thursday as she concluded a trip to Southeast Asia.In visits to Singapore and Vietnam, Harris charged China with bullying its neighbors in the region, triggering here sharp rebukes from Beijing, which accused the U.S. of meddling in regional affairs and disrupting peace.“We welcome stiff competition…

A Chinese carrier group is exercising near Taiwan and such drills will become regular, China’s navy said late on Monday in a further escalation of tensions near the island that Beijing claims as its sovereign territory.Taiwan has complained of an increase in Chinese military activity near it in recent months, as China steps up efforts to assert its sovereignty over the democratically run island.China’s navy said the carrier group, lead by the Liaoning, the country’s first aircraft carrier put into active service…

A Chinese ship embroiled in a standoff with Vietnamese vessels last year has returned to waters near Vietnam as the United States accused China of pushing its presence in the South China Sea while other claimants are pre-occupied with the coronavirus.Vietnamese vessels last year spent months shadowing the Chinese Haiyang Dizhi 8 survey vessel in resource-rich waters that are a potential global flashpoint as the United States challenges China's sweeping maritime claims.On Tuesday, the ship, which is used for offshore seismic surveys, appeared again 158 km (98 miles) off Vietnam's coast, within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), flanked by at least one China Coast Guard vessel…

China will significantly increase imports of U.S. soybeans after the Phase 1 trade deal is signed, the Global Times reported on Wednesday, citing comments from a senior Chinese economist at a state think tank.Wang Liaowei, senior economist at China National Grain and Oils Information Center that is under the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, also told the paper that imports of U.S. products such as pork and cotton could also see a jump following the signing of the trade deal. (Reporting by Se Young Lee and Stella Qiu; editing by Louise Heavens)

The Nanchang, China's first Type 055 guided missile destroyer, will soon be put into commission in the People's Liberation Army Navy, a spokesperson said.China plans to have a fleet of 8 Type 055 destroyers, its most powerful naval vessel which was showcased during the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s 70th anniversary on Tuesday in Qingdao.Long expected by Chinese military enthusiasts, the Nanchang, China's first Type 055 destroyer, which is painted with the hull number 101, was part of the destroyer group.President Xi Jinping reviewed the major naval parade which further had the direct participation of nearly a dozen regional navies, including Japan, Australia, and the Philippines.

China's imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in November surged to a new record as the country briskly promotes the green fuel to clean its energy mix, said a report in Xinhua.In November, LNG imports totaled 5.99 million tons hitting a new record, rising 48.5 percent year-on-year, according to figures from the General Administration of Customs released over the weekend. The previous record was 5.18 million tons set in January this year, according to media reports.The report said that the country's appetite for natural gas has swelled rapidly in recent years, in part driven by environmental policies to replace dirtier coal-fired electricity generation.

China and Myanmar are moving ahead with a China-backed deep-sea port project in Kyauk Phyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) , 250 miles northwest of Yangon.The framework agreement was signed by Myanmar's Deputy Minister of Planning and Finance and Chairperson of the Management Committee of the Kyaukphyu SEZ U Set Aung and President of CITIC Group Chang Zhenming, stated Chinese state media.This is the third port in India’s vicinity. China is also developing deepwater strategic Gwadar port in Pakistan in the Arabian Sea which faces the Mumbai coast. It has also acquired Sri Lanka's Hambantota port on debt swap in the Indian Ocean. It is also…

The world’s largest shipbuilding nation China is facing some tough years ahead as new-vessel orders weaken and order backlogs decline, Caixin reported quoting China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI). According to the industry association, in the first half of 2017, new orders received by Chinese shipbuilders plunged by 29 percent year-on-year in terms of total estimated freight volume for the new ships, the report said. The new orders are totaling 11.51 million deadweight tons. Deadweight tonnage is how much a ship can safely carry, not the weight of the ship itself. The order backlog held by Chinese shipyards also dropped 30.5% from a year earlier to 82.84 million deadweight tons, the association said.

China's military on Wednesday launched a new type of domestically-built destroyer, state media said, the latest addition to the country's rapidly expanding navy. The 10,000-tonne warship was launched at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, the official Xinhua news agency said, making it the first of the People's Liberation Army Navy's "new generation" destroyers. "It is equipped with new air defence, anti-missile, anti-ship and anti-submarine weapons," Xinhua said, without giving further details. The state-run Global Times newspaper said the ship was believed to be the first Type 055 destroyer, which is considered to be a successor class to the smaller Type 052D guided missile destroyers. China is still producing the latter and commissioned one, the Xining, in January.

Missiles flew about 200 km into sea off east coast - S.Korea; launch is fourth by Pyongyang in four weeks. North Korea fired what appeared to be several land-to-ship missiles off its east coast on Thursday, South Korea's military said, a day after the South postponed full deployment of a controversial U.S. anti-missile system designed to deter a North Korean attack. The launches, the latest in a fast-paced series of missile tests defying world pressure to rein in its weapons programme, come less than a week after the United Nations Security Council passed fresh sanctions on the reclusive state. South Korea on Wednesday said it will hold off on installing remaining components of the U.S.

China's Defense Ministry said on Saturday it plans to return an underwater U.S. drone seized this week by a Chinese naval vessel in the South China Sea, but complained the United States was "hyping up" the incident. The drone was taken on Thursday, the first seizure of its kind in recent memory. It prompted the Pentagon to go public with a diplomatic complaint, and drew criticism from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to take a more aggressive approach in dealing with Beijing.

China's government sought to downplay fears of conflict in the South China Sea after an influential state-run newspaper said on Tuesday that Beijing should prepare for military confrontation. Editorials in the Global Times newspaper ahead of a July 12 international court ruling on competing claims in the South China Sea by China and the Philippines said the dispute had already been complicated by U.S. intervention. It faced further escalation due to the threat posed by The Hague-based tribunal to China's sovereignty, the paper said. "Washington has deployed two carrier battle groups around the South China Sea, and it wants to send a signal by flexing its muscles: As the biggest powerhouse in the region, it awaits China's obedience," the Global Times said.

China accused the United States on Monday of seeking maritime hegemony in the name of freedom of navigation after a U.S. Navy destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of a disputed island in the South China Sea. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of world trade is shipped every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims. The guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur passed near Triton Island in the Paracel Islands, in what the Pentagon said was a challenge to attempts by China, Taiwan and Vietnam to restrict navigation rights and freedoms. The Chinese government, which moved swiftly to condemn to sailing on Saturday, said the United States was acting dangerously and irresponsibly.

New ship orders at Chinese yards have fallen 68.3 percent to the end of August as tough conditions prevailed in the global shipping market, Global Times reported quoting data from the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI). Accoring to experts said the discouraging figure will exacerbate the problems of the country’s struggling shipyards. CANSI said that due to the slack market, order backlogs and prices for new ships also fell. China’s shipbuilders completed 14.6 percent more ships by tonnage than a year earlier during the eight months, reducing the order backlog, which was down 12.1 percent at the end of August, CANSI data showed.

The state-run China Daily says that India's plans to conduct oil exploration off Vietnam coast in the South China Sea is "illegal and is an "unwise move" that may "sabotage" positive momentum in ties. "India's intention to once again explore for oil in the disputed waters of the South China Sea is an unwise move, as it will further complicate the maritime disputes and do a disservice to maintaining the positive momentum that has been achieved in China-India ties," the China Daily said in an editorial. Titled 'India should rethink its oil exploration plans', the editorial said according to reports India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation plans to restart exploration activities in the waters off Vietnam's coastline which are "also claimed by China".

The Chinese navy has announced 10 days of military training in the waters near eastern Hainan Island in the South China Sea starting on Wednesday, amid heightened tensions in the region. Playing down the significance of the exercises, the Chinese military said the drills, started yesterday in the east of Hainan Province, are not directed against neighbours. "The drills are regular military exercises scheduled in the annual plan, without targeting any other country," the Ministry of National Defence said. During the training, 'no vessel is allowed to enter the designated maritime areas', according to China's Maritime Safety Administration, which released the drill plan on Monday.

China has outlined a first ever "white paper" on military strategy that outlined a more robust posture for its blue-water navy, and warned of threats to its security from "still smouldering" boundary disputes over land. The paper comes a day after an editorial (link in Chinese) in the state-run Chinese tabloid Global Times said conflict between China and the US will be unavoidable if the Washington doesn’t lay off Beijing for building islands and military facilities in disputed parts of the South China Sea. The white paper, released in Beijing by the State Council, or Cabinet, Information Office, is the first ever dedicated to China's military strategy, and the ninth defence paper issued by the People's Liberation Army.

Pakistan is close to signing a $4 to $5 billion deal to buy eight submarines from China, the Financial Times said on Thursday, in what it added would likely be China's largest overseas arms sale. The Pakistan Navy says Islamabad has given the green light to the military's plan to purchase eight conventional submarines from China, reports Huanqiu, the Chinese-language website of China's nationalistic tabloid Global Times. Pakistan has been negotiating the submarine purchase with China since 2011, with initial plans to purchase six, and subsequently raising the number to eight. The plan is viewed as a means to address the country’s force imbalance with India.

China on Monday hit back at "irresponsible remarks" from the United States which has called on Beijing to stop a land reclamation project in the disputed South China Sea that could be large enough to accommodate an airstrip. China lays claim to almost all of the entire South China Sea, believed to be rich with minerals and oil-and-gas deposits and one of Asia's biggest possible flashpoints. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also have claims. The comments by China's foreign ministry signal that Beijing would firmly reject proposals by any country to freeze any activity that may raise tension. Media reports over the weekend cited U.S.

China is sending four oil rigs into the South China Sea in a sign that Beijing its stepping up its exploration for oil and gas in the tense region, less than two months after it positioned a giant drilling platform in waters claimed by Vietnam. Coordinates posted on the website of China's Maritime Safety Administration showed the Nanhai number 2 and 5 rigs would be deployed roughly between southern China and the Pratas islands, which are occupied by Taiwan. The Nanhai 4 rig would be towed close to the Chinese coast. The agency, which did not say who owns the rigs, said all three would be in place by Aug. 12. Earlier this week, it gave coordinates for a fourth rig, the Nanhai 9, which would be positioned just outside Vietnam's exclusive economic zone by Friday.