Chinese defence ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said China expressed “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” to the annual report, which was released on Wednesday. The report “misinterpreted China’s defence policy … spread rumours, slandered the Chinese military, and exaggerated the ‘China military threat’,” Zhang said in a ministry statement. The China Military Power Report has been…
Zircon from Australia could become fiercely contested by China and the United States, a geologist who works with the Chinese military has warned. While zircon is commonly valued as a gemstone, inside, it contains the metal zirconium. The metal can withstand very high temperatures, enabling ceramics, for example, to be heated to above 3,000 degrees…
Reports that China has built a prototype nuclear reactor for its next aircraft carrier have prompted renewed focus on its supposed long-term ambition to project naval power far from its shores. Carriers powered by nuclear reactors do not need to refuel as often as conventionally powered ones. This gives them much greater range and also…
Several world leaders at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro seized the opportunity to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who returned to the global stage after skipping last year’s gathering in India. Before attending the group’s scheduled meetings at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Xi held bilateral talks with…
US president-elect Donald Trump’s surprise pick of Pete Hegseth, a television host and army veteran, to be his Pentagon chief is expected to inject more unpredictability into the already fragile US-China military relationship, according to analysts. Hegseth, 44, is a Fox News political commentator and a military veteran who served tours of duty in Iraq…
Donald Trump’s return to the White House could spell uncertainty for US-led regional security arrangements aimed at containing China, including Aukus and the Quad, experts said, pointing to his unpredictability and history of putting pressure on allies. Washington’s efforts to contain China’s growing influence weare re likely to continue in Trump’s second term but with…
The chairs of the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees are pushing the Biden administration to share more defense equipment with Australia and the United Kingdom — America’s two partners in the AUKUS agreement. In a letter sent to the White House on Tuesday, first reported by Defense News, the two Republican lawmakers argued…
London — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is in London this week to discuss progress made by the U.S., Britain and Australia toward their shared goal of deterring China’s increasingly assertive actions in the Indo-Pacific. The London summit is the third Defense Ministerial for the allies’ trilateral AUKUS partnership, and according to defense officials, it will…