Malaysia investigates Chinese barge suspected of links to looting of British WW2 wrecks

Malaysia’s maritime agency has said it found a cannon shell believed to be from the second world war on a Chinese-registered vessel and was investigating if the barge carrier was involved in the looting of two British warship wrecks in the South China Sea. The agency said it detained the vessel registered in Fuzhou, China, on Sunday for anchoring without a permit off southern Johor state, and that an inspection revealed scrap metal and a cannon shell it suspected dated from the second world war. It said there were 32…

‘Path of error and danger’: China angry and confused over Aukus deal

When the UK, the US and Australia announced the details of their multibillion-dollar deal to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines on Monday, the reaction in China was both outrage and confusion. The allies were “walking further and further down the path of error and danger”, said Wang Wenbin, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, on Tuesday. The Chinese mission to the UN accused the three countries of fuelling an arms race. The deal, which will provide Australia with at least three nuclear-powered submarines, is designed to counter the rising threat of China…

What is the Aukus submarine deal and what does it mean? – the key facts

In a tripartite deal with the US and the UK, Australia has unveiled a plan to acquire a fleet of up to eight nuclear-powered submarines, forecast to cost up to $368bn between now and the mid-2050s. Australia will spend $9bn over the next four years. From this year Australian military and civilian personnel will embed with US and UK navies, including within both countries’ submarine industrial bases. From 2027 the UK and the US plan to rotate their nuclear-powered submarines through HMAS Stirling near Perth as part of a push…

Size of UK’s nuclear submarine fleet could double under Aukus plans

The UK’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet could double in size as plans were revealed for the new “Aukus” vessels to be based on a British design. In a bid to counter the growing threat from China, the UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, vowed alongside his US and Australian counterparts to stand “shoulder to shoulder” to protect peace in the Indo-Pacific given its implications for security across the world. A “historic” deal 18 months in the making was announced by the three leaders in Point Loma, San Diego, that will see new…

UK spy chief suggests Beijing risks ‘miscalculation’ over west’s resolve

China is at risk of “miscalculating through over-confidence” over Taiwan, said the MI6 head, Richard Moore, in a statement clearly intended to warn Beijing to back off any attempt to seize control of the island. Giving a rare speech, Britain’s foreign intelligence chief said in London that China was at risk of “believing its own propaganda” and that the country had become “the single greatest priority” for MI6 for the first time in its history. Moore did not mention Taiwan explicitly, but the status of the country, whose independence is…

‘War may be triggered at any time’: China fires off ominous warning as it sends record warplanes towards Taiwan

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng has expressed concern, saying that Beijing might mount a ‘full-scale’ invasion by 2025 Two Chinese SU-30 fighter jets take off from an unspecified location to fly a patrol over the South China Sea. China has sent in a record number of military flights near Taiwan since last Friday. AP “War may be triggered at any time”. That’s the ominous warning from China after it sent a record number of aircraft across the Taiwan Straits over the past few days. In its editorial ‘Time to warn Taiwan secessionists…

‘War may be triggered at any time’: China warns as it sends record number of warplanes towards Taiwan

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng has expressed concern, saying that Beijing might mount a ‘full-scale’ invasion by 2025 Two Chinese SU-30 fighter jets take off from an unspecified location to fly a patrol over the South China Sea. China has sent in a record number of military flights near Taiwan since last Friday. AP “War may be triggered at any time”. That’s the ominous warning from China after it sent a record number of aircraft across the Taiwan Straits over the past few days. In its editorial ‘Time to warn Taiwan secessionists…

1958, 1994 and 2021: India Continues to be an Onlooker in Taiwan Straits Crisis – News18

The brazenness with which China’s air force scrambled a record number of aircraft across the Taiwan Straits in the last few days is in sharp contrast to the strategic calmness with which the government and the people in Taiwan responded. For, the Taiwanese knew the antics of China’s Communist Party for long—having engaged with them in pitched military and diplomatic battles for more than seven decades. China sent 38 aircraft on its National Day on October 1, ramping them further to 39 aircraft the next day and crossing and violating…

Winning Ugly: What the War on Terror Cost America

My first mission as a paramilitary officer with the CIA was against a top-ten al Qaeda target. It was the autumn of 2009, and I had been deployed in my new job for a total of two days. But I was no stranger to Afghanistan, having already fought there (as well as in Iraq) as a Marine Corps officer over the previous six years. On this mission, I was joined by the Afghan counterterrorism unit I advised and a handful of members from SEAL Team Six. Our plan was to…

Bin Laden’s Catastrophic Success: Al Qaeda Changed the World—but Not in the Way It Expected

On September 11, 2001, al Qaeda carried out the deadliest foreign terrorist attack the United States had ever experienced. To Osama bin Laden and the other men who planned it, however, the assault was no mere act of terrorism. To them, it represented something far grander: the opening salvo of a campaign of revolutionary violence that would usher in a new historical era. Although bin Laden was inspired by religion, his aims were geopolitical. Al Qaeda’s mission was to undermine the contemporary world order of nation-states and re-create the historical…