Latest news with #SouthChinaSea
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Science
- South China Morning Post
Chinese team deploys new all-in-one research buoy in the South China Sea
Chinese scientists have deployed a buoy-based research platform in the South China Sea that can track both atmospheric and oceanic changes – even in typhoon-force winds. Anchored 3,500 metres (11,400 feet) below the surface, the system is designed for synchronised, multilayered observations spanning 10km (6.2 miles) into the atmosphere and 1km into the ocean, according to the Institute of Oceanology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Qingdao, which led the project. The buoy – powered by a hybrid energy system that combines solar, wind, thermal gradient and wave energy sources – can endure extreme marine conditions, including wind speeds over 60 metres per second and wave heights up to 20 metres, the institute said on its website. 'This buoy system features an innovative design with a highly stable surface and mooring structure tailored for deep-sea, high-wave conditions,' Liu Changhua, a senior engineer at the institute, told state broadcaster CCTV on Thursday. 'It's equipped with multiple advanced instruments, including an oceanic quantum lidar and a microwave radiometer, for synchronous observations across the atmosphere, ocean surface and subsurface layers,' he said, adding that the platform had entered a one-year commissioning phase. The buoy was towed to a site in the South China Sea where the water is more than 3,500 metres deep. Photo: Handout Scientists around the world have long used deep-sea buoys to study the ocean. Some, such as the US Ocean Observatories Initiative, are anchored in waters more than 5,000 metres deep and collect valuable data about the ocean and atmosphere.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Philippines and Malaysia sidestep South China Sea claims, seek closer naval ties
The heads of the Philippine and Malaysian navies have pledged to deepen maritime cooperation, reflecting growing trust between both sides and mutual concerns over regional security despite their overlapping claims in the South China Sea Admiral Tansri Zulhelmy Bin Ithnain, chief of Malaysia's Royal Navy, met with vice-admiral Jose Ma Ambrosio Ezpeleta, flag officer in command of the Philippine Navy, during a courtesy call in Manila on Wednesday. He also held talks with the Philippine military chief, General Romeo Brawner Jnr. The visit 'reaffirmed the strong and enduring ties' between the two countries' naval forces, according to a Philippine Navy's statement, which said both sides had exchanged views on joint maritime operations, regional security and naval modernisation. The navies committed to enhance maritime cooperation and discussed future training and capability development efforts. They also highlighted the coming 19th Asean meeting of navy chiefs – to be hosted by Malaysia in August – as a key platform to advance collaboration. 'This engagement underscores the Philippine Navy's continued commitment to building strong defence partnerships, advancing regional cooperation, and promoting maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region,' the statement said. The renewed push for naval collaboration comes as both countries face overlapping maritime claims in parts of the South China Sea, even as China's growing assertiveness in the disputed waterways has fuelled regional unease.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
China warns Philippines against ‘self-inflicted destruction' by hosting US missile systems
China's Defence Ministry has warned the Philippines against 'self-inflicted destruction' by hosting US missile systems and denounced Manila's plan to encourage fishermen to operate in disputed South China Sea waters. Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy in Manila dismissed drug-smuggling allegations by Philippine military officials as 'baseless slander'. The United States has reportedly decided to deploy additional strategic Typhon missile systems in the Philippines after transporting the mid-range missile launcher to Luzon last year. The US Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) anti-ship missiles, used in last month's Balikatan joint exercise, will also remain as a 'deterrent against coercion', the Philippine military said. Manila's move to introduce these strategic weapons is 'binding itself to the US war machine', which would undermine regional security and stability and sabotage the common interests of regional nations, Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said in Beijing on Thursday. 'Inviting wolves into the house will backfire, leading to self-destruction. They will destroy their own homes,' Zhang said.
ABC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Australian navy joins UK to conduct freedom of navigation exercises in contested South China Sea
An Australian naval destroyer has joined a British patrol vessel to conduct a freedom of navigation exercise in the South China Sea, in another sign Australia's military remains intent on pushing back on Beijing's claims over the contested waters. The UK Defence Ministry's Permanent Joint Headquarters publicised the operation on social media on Tuesday — although the Australian Defence Force has not announced it publicly and has not yet responded to the ABC's questions about the activity. "HMS SPEY and HMAS SYDNEY have just conducted Freedom of Navigation Activity around the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, in accordance with UNCLOS," it said on the social media site X. The two countries conducted the drill while much of the world's attention remains focused on the US strikes on Iran and the threat of a broader conflagration in the Middle East. Beijing claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea as its territory — despite a 2016 international ruling which found that claim invalid — and its navy and coast guard have repeatedly clashed with vessels from the Philippines, which is one of the South-East Asian nations which also has overlapping claims in the sea. China and the Philippines have also had several potentially dangerous aerial encounters over the South China Sea, including in February, when China's military said it had expelled three Philippine aircraft from the Spratly Islands. Australia has conducted freedom of navigation activities in the South China Sea with an expanding number of countries, including the US, Japan, Canada and the Philippines — which have all shown increasing resolve to assert their right to sail through the waters. But Euan Graham from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said it appeared to be the first time that the United Kingdom and Australia had conducted a publicly flagged freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea by themselves. He said both countries were "pushing back against China's excessive maritime claims and thickening military presence in the South China Sea" by asserting their right to navigation. Mr Graham said Canberra was signalling that China's recent partial circumnavigation of the Australian mainland would not deter it from continuing to operate in the South China Sea. Multiple Chinese analysts have suggested that Beijing was using the deployment to Australia to discourage the federal government from sending naval vessels into waters near China. "There's a sense that Australia is stepping up its game and being present (in the South China Sea) at a time when China's navy is exerting its presence close to Australia," Mr Graham said. The United Kingdom and Australia have already been stepping up joint naval activities in the region — including by taking part in an operation to enforce United Nations sanctions on North Korea. In February British and Australian ships also joined the United States Navy in the South China Sea to conduct a "coordinated manoeuvring exercise", and last week China lashed the United Kingdom after HMS Spey flagged that it was sailing through the Taiwan Strait. The British government has said that HMAS Sydney and HMS Spey will now sail to Singapore, where they will meet with the United Kingdom's carrier Prince of Wales and a Strike Group with a host of navy ships from the UK, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and Spain. The Carrier Strike Group will then sail down to the Northern Territory to join Operation Talisman Sabre — massive Australia-US joint military exercises which will also draw in forces from more than a dozen other nations. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the deployment of the carrier and other British naval vessels to the region — along with around 4,000 UK military personnel — is aimed at "sending a clear message of strength to our adversaries, and a message of unity and purpose to our allies".
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Climate
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong set for rain, squally thunderstorms on Thursday
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP's journalism by subscribing . New users who download our updated app get a seven-day free trial. Hong Kong will experience rain and thunderstorms on Thursday, the weather forecaster has said, as it monitors the potential development of a tropical cyclone. The Hong Kong Observatory said that unsettled weather would affect the city, with a broad area of low pressure over the central part of the South China Sea expected to move closer to Western Guangdong and Hainan Island between Wednesday and Thursday. 'Under its influence, there will be a few showers locally later [on Wednesday], and more showers with squally thunderstorms [on Thursday],' the forecaster said. The Observatory added that it was closely monitoring whether the area of low pressure would develop into a tropical cyclone. It also issued a very hot weather warning at 6.54am, with the mercury hovering around 33 degrees Celsius (91.4 Fahrenheit) in urban areas and a few degrees higher in the New Territories.
