A Philippine Coast Guard boat sails past a China Coast Guard vessel during a 2019 encounter in the South China Sea. The PCG has recently reported the large presence of Chinese militia vessels in waters claimed by Manila. (TED ALJIBE/AFP via Getty Images)
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has reported the presence of 42 Chinese maritime militia vessels in the vicinity of Thitu Island.
The vessels are accompanied by a China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel with pennant number 5302, and what is purportedly a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessel, said the PCG in a 4 March statement.
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The French Navy’s first new BRF logistic support ship,
Jacques Chevallier
(A 725), started sea acceptance trials on 25 January.
(Naval Group)
Chantiers de l’Atlantique has delivered the first of four new batiments ravitailleurs de forces (BRF) logistic support ships (LSSs),
Jacques Chevallier
(A 725), to the French Navy.
An Ashwin AAD interceptor launched from Wheeler Island. (Government of India Press Information Bureau)
South Asia has traditionally been protected from neighbouring territorial conquests by a geological ‘Maginot Line’ consisting of the Himalayas in its north and northeast and the Hindu Kush mountain range in the northwest.
In recent years, the vulnerability of the region – especially northern India – has been highlighted by tensions over territory and China’s military modernisation.
UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and Malaysia’s king Al-Sultan Abdullah inspect unidentified UAVs at the end of Exercise ‘Desert Tiger 6′. The detla-wing type’s engine is obscured by the wing of a larger UAV, probably a Wing Loong II. (National Palace of Malaysia)
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that have not previously been seen in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), including what appeared to be a Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2, were seen in coverage of an exercise the Emirati and Malaysian armed forces held at the end of February.
Singapore’s A330 MRTT conducts air-to-air refuelling operations to extend the endurance of participating fighter aircraft, including F-35s, at Exercise ‘Pitch Black’ 2022. (Ministry of Defence, Singapore)
Singapore’s Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen confirmed during a parliamentary address in February 2023 that the country will exercise an option to purchase eight more F-35B Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft. This is in addition to the acquisition of four airframesit announced in 2019.
Janes Defence Budgets (JDB) estimates China’s total defence expenditure for 2023 to be the equivalent of about USD269 billion. JDB figures include soldiers’ pensions and a portion of national R&D expenditure. (Janes Defence Budgets)
China has announced a 2023 defence budget of CNY1.554 trillion (USD225 billion). The new budget represents a nominal year-on-year increase of 7.2%, the fastest rate of growth for four years.
The expenditure was announced at the opening session of the annual National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing on 5 March.
Craig Singleton, Foreign Policy
Beijing’s phony proposal lays bare its conditions for winning an East Asian war.
Francis P. Sempa, The American Spectator
The longtime ideological and political brains behind the Chinese throne is a former visiting scholar in the U.S.
Kennedy Lee & Luke Coffey, RealClearDefense
Edward Luttwak, UnHerd
Beijing’s defence budget doesn’t tell the whole story
The day after Li Keqiang, China’s departing Prime Minister and the last of Beijing’s moderates, called…