MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Canada and the Philippines, both staunch critics of China’s increasingly coercive actions in the disputed South China Sea, signed a key defense agreement on Sunday to boost combat drills and expand security alliances to deter aggression, officials said. Canada and other Western nations have been bolstering their military presence in the…
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday urged Southeast Asian nations to stand firm and strengthen their maritime forces to counter China’s increasingly “destabilizing” actions in the South China Sea. Speaking at a meeting in Malaysia with his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Hegseth reiterated U.S. concern…
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — President Donald Trump’s comments Thursday suggesting the United States will restart its testing of nuclear weapons upends decades of American policy in regards to the bomb, but come as Washington’s rivals have been conducting their own atomic tests and expanding their arsenals. Nuclear weapons policy, once thought to be…
BANGKOK (AP) — A major ethnic rebel group in Myanmar announced Wednesday it signed a cease-fire with the military following China-mediated talks, easing months of intense fighting in the country’s northeast near the Chinese border. The ceasefire with the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, marks a significant victory for Myanmar’s military government, which has…
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s top defense official said Wednesday that Jakarta will acquire at least 42 Chinese-made Chengdu J-10C fighter jets, marking the country’s first non-Western aircraft purchase deal. Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin told reporters in the capital, Jakarta, that Indonesia would soon buy fighter jets from China as part of a plan to…
WASHINGTON (AP) — For many years, American and Chinese scholars worked shoulder to shoulder on cutting-edge technologies through open research, where findings are freely shared and accessible to all. But that openness, a long-standing practice celebrated for advancing knowledge, is raising alarms among some U.S. lawmakers. They are worried that China — now considered the…
TAIPEI, Taiwan — TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense issued a report saying it is training soldiers to shoot down drones and actively looking to procure new anti-drone weapons systems, which comes in response to Chinese drone incursions. The report released Thursday said Taiwan has developed a strategy to deal with the…
The United Nations reimposed nuclear sanctions on Iran Sunday, putting new pressure on Tehran’s ailing economy as tensions remain high in the wider Mideast over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi offered a last-ditch effort to try to halt the sanctions at the U.N. General…
BEIJING — China announced sanctions on six U.S. companies on Thursday as frictions continue to escalate in the countries’ trade relations despite a highly anticipated meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Three U.S. companies have been added to China’s “unreliable entity list,” effectively banning them from trade with China, according…
BEIJING (AP) — The United States and China are talking past each other on key issues, said a U.S. lawmaker leading a bipartisan congressional delegation to Beijing on Tuesday. The visit, led by Rep. Adam Smith, a Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, is the first from the House of Representatives to China since…