Latest news with #provocations
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
South China Sea: expect ‘more provocations' from Manila, and Hanoi could be next
Tensions could worsen between Beijing and Manila over the disputed South China Sea with 'more provocations' expected after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr shored up support in the midterm election, a Chinese maritime analyst says. Wu Shicun, founder of the government-sponsored think tank the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, also said Beijing and Hanoi could be heading for confrontation over Vietnam's increasing land reclamation activities in the contested Spratly Islands. He said there was no sign that tensions would ease over the maritime disputes in the South China Sea and the Philippines was now the 'most prominent' rival claimant. Wu Shicun, founder of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies. Photo: China News Service via Getty Images Wu made the remarks at a seminar in Beijing on Thursday ahead of the ninth anniversary of a historic ruling by a tribunal in The Hague that dismissed China's claims to large swathes of the resource-rich South China Sea, saying they had 'no legal basis'. The case was brought by the Philippines and the ruling was rejected by China. Addressing foreign diplomats, academics and officials, Wu accused Manila of trying to 'occupy' new maritime features and to 'expand disputes' over Second Thomas Shoal, Sandy Cay and Scarborough Shoal, where a series of run-ins between Chinese and Philippine vessels have taken place in recent months. He also pointed to the Philippines allowing a US mid-range missile system to be deployed in the north of the country, saying it was an attempt to 'disrupt cross-strait peace'. The mid-range capability launcher, also known as Typhon, was stationed in the Philippines in April 2024 during joint exercises with the US, its first overseas deployment. Manila later said it had decided to keep the system indefinitely. Beijing was angered by the move given the strike capabilities of the ground-based launcher, which can fire Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles with a range of up to 2,000km (1,242 miles) – meaning parts of the South China Sea, Taiwan Strait and even southern China would be within reach.
Russia Today
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Kiev and London plotting ‘bloody provocations'
Kiev and London have been plotting a series of 'bloody provocations' to escalate the Ukraine conflict and disrupt dialogue between Moscow and Washington, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has warned. In a statement issued on Monday, the agency described growing coordination between Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) and its military intelligence (GUR) with British intelligence, which it said is due to Kiev's 'mounting battlefield setbacks and deepening moral exhaustion.' Such sabotage operations typically follow a set pattern, the SVR said, with Britain planning and coordinating, and Ukrainian operatives carrying out the attacks. The report suggested that the same approach was used in recent railway sabotage in Russia's Bryansk and Kursk Regions, which Moscow denounced as Ukrainian 'terrorist attacks.' The incidents killed seven and injured over 120, including children. The agency also cited the June 1 Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian airbases as part of the same playbook. The 'Anglo-Ukrainian terrorist tandem' is now preparing more attacks, the SVR claimed, aiming to escalate the conflict, derail Moscow-Washington dialogue, and convince the White House to maintain large-scale military support for Kiev. According to the agency, one such scenario involves a false flag Russian torpedo attack on a US Navy ship in the Baltic Sea. Ukraine has already supplied Soviet-made torpedoes to the UK, the SVR said. Some are meant to detonate at a 'safe distance,' while one will be left unexploded 'as evidence of Moscow's malicious activity.' Ukrainian operatives, it added, are prepared to carry out the plan. Another alleged scheme involves British, Ukrainian, and Northern European partners 'accidentally' recovering Russian-made naval mines in the Baltic, supposedly placed to sabotage international maritime shipping routes. 'Kiev has become the perfect executor of vile provocations and terrorist acts for perfidious Albion [England],' the SVR concluded. The agency's chief, Sergey Naryshkin, has repeatedly warned of possible British provocations, saying the SVR is well aware of London's covert hostile activities against Russia.
