Latest news with #militarydrills
Al Jazeera
4 days ago
- General
- Al Jazeera
China's navy conducts combat patrols near disputed South China Sea shoal
China's navy has conducted 'combat readiness patrols' near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, while South Korean officials separately announced the discovery of more Chinese buoys in contested waters in the Yellow Sea. The Southern Theatre Command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) conducted the drills in the 'territorial waters and airspace of China's Huangyan Island and surrounding areas', state-run news outlet Xinhua reported on Saturday, using China's name for the Scarborough Shoal. The report said the PLA had been conducting drills in the area throughout May to 'further strengthen the control of relevant sea and air areas, resolutely defend national sovereignty and security, and resolutely maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea'. The Scarborough Shoal is a rocky islet claimed by The Philippines, located 220km (119 miles) west of Luzon, the nearest landmass. Beijing blockaded and seized the territory, a traditional fishing ground, from Manila in 2012. The Chinese navy regularly carries out provocative military drills in the area as part of its claims of sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, despite a 2016 international tribunal ruling that Beijing's claims had no legal basis under international law. In late April, Manila accused Beijing of carrying out 'dangerous manoeuvres and obstruction' after a Chinese naval ship damaged a Philippine coastguard ship with a water cannon near the shoal. Also on Saturday, South Korean officials announced they had recorded three new Chinese buoys installed near overlapping waters with South Korea, bringing the total number of such devices installed by China in the Yellow Sea to 13. '[We] are closely monitoring activities within the provisional maritime zone [PMZ], including China's unauthorised installation of structures, and will closely [cooperate] with relevant agencies to protect our maritime sovereignty,' a Ministry of Defence official said, according to South Korea's official Yonhap news agency. Two of the Chinese buoys – first detected in May 2023, but only announced this week – have been installed near the zone, according to Yonhap. The third buoy is located inside the maritime zone, a contested area where the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) claims of South Korea and China overlap, Yonhap added. China asserts its maritime boundary is based on a 1962 agreement signed with North Korea which cuts into waters South Korea considers part of its economic zone. The Yellow Sea PMZ allows joint management of marine resources and prohibits activities beyond navigation and fishing. However, tensions have grown between Beijing and Seoul as China has repeatedly erected installations in the waters, including 10 three-metre-wide and six-metre-tall observation buoys since 2018 and a fixed steel structure in 2022. Last week, China declared three no-sail zones within the zone, in a move 'believed to be for military training purposes', according to the Korea Joongang Daily newspaper. The no-sail declarations caused concern in Seoul over a potential uptick in Chinese military activity in the area.
Free Malaysia Today
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
North Korea's Kim oversees air drills
Kim Jong Un observes tactical drill demonstrations at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (KCNA/EPA Images pic) SEOUL : North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised drills by the nation's air force and underscored the need for a step-up in war preparation, state media said on Saturday. Kim, who inspected anti-aircraft combat and air strike drills by North Korea's 1st Air Division on Thursday, called for 'all units in the entire military' to bring about 'a breakthrough in war preparation', KCNA reported. Footage of the drills on North Korean state TV showed a MiG-29 jet launching a missile, which appeared to be a North Korean version of a Russia-developed mid- to long-range air-to-air missile, said Hong Min, North Korea analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification. So far this month, Kim has overseen a missile test, inspected tank and munitions plants, made a rare visit to the Russian embassy in Pyongyang reaffirming the country's alliance with Russia, and supervised tank firing drills and special operations unit training. North Korea also slammed the US state department for placing it on a list of countries that do not fully cooperate with US counterterrorism efforts. Pyongyang has been placed on the list every year since 1997, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said. 'The more the US provokes the DPRK with unnecessary and inefficient malicious acts, the further it will escalate the irreconcilable hostility between the DPRK and the US,' a North Korean foreign ministry spokesperson said, using the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. 'The DPRK will… take effective and proper measures to cope with the US hostile provocations in all spheres.'
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
British paratroopers parachute onto Swedish island as part of NATO exercise preparing to defend Europe from Russia... and are asked to show their PASSPORTS
British paratroopers carrying out NATO drills were stopped and asked to show their passports as they parachuted onto a Swedish island this week. Soldiers were carrying out exercises in Sweden as part of wider Swift Defense 25 NATO drills aimed at preparing for the possibility of global conflict. Drills including seizing a 'Tactical Landing Zone' from Swedish defenders, landing planes and parachuting onto the strategic Baltic island of Gotland. Dozens of troops from the British Parachute Regiment were seen dropping from a Royal Air Force Airbus A400M in stunning video shot on Tuesday. But as they landed, it was straight to Swedish passport control, as Britain is outside of the Schengen Area. Lieutenant Colonel Chris Hitchens told local outlet Expressen: 'So I'm used to border control now. I did it in France last year, as well.' 'Sometimes you have a bit of a mental pause, you go through those motions and then I'll put my helmet back on and I'll go into the trees and we'll be back in a tactical scenario.' British soldiers were met by officials and asked to produce passports after landing in Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day last summer - provoking sharp rebuke from British politicians. Some 320 British, Belgian and US paratroopers took part in the jump, descending into a historic D-Day drop zone to recreate the events of 1944. But only the 250 British paras were required to show passports as the US soldiers jumped from within France and Belgium is part of the European Union. The 250 British paratroopers took off from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, before jumping into the drop zone near Sannerville to commemorate the airborne invasion 80 years ago. Former cabinet minister David Jones told MailOnline at the time that France only had control of its own borders because of the arrival of similar British troops 80 years ago. 'They risked their lives to make France safe for bureaucracy,' he quipped. Brigadier Mark Berry, commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade, told the Sun: 'It is something we haven't experienced before. 'But given the Royal welcome we have had from every other feature, it seems like a very small price to pay for coming to France.' The British paras were cheered by hundreds of spectators who gathered at the drop zone around five miles from the sea. British soldiers will have to present passports when landing in Europe. Some 100 paratroopers were involved in the Swift Defense 25 drills on Tuesday. Speaking after the exercises, one soldier told Expressen: 'It was a good, successful jump. So now we're going to make our way to the rally point.' Swift Defense 25 is a U.S.-led exercise taking place between May 11 and May 31, 2025. NATO allies are 'conducting near-simultaneous airborne and mobility aircraft operations, and multinational training across the High North and Baltic region to enhance collective defence readiness'. Soldiers have practiced 'airbourne insertions' in Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden, and carried out live fire drills, medical support operations and artillery training, supported by Allied mobility aircraft. Swift Response 25 is the opening phase of the broader U.S.-led DEFENDER 25 exercise, designed to reinforce NATO's deterrence posture and demonstrate rapid deployment capability, NATO says. 'This is about global deterrence,' said General Christopher Donahue, Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe and Africa. 'Everything we demonstrate with our Allies and partners, we can replicate globally. DEFENDER gives us critical repetitions at scale for theatre logistics and warfighting.' NATO says the coordinated jumps are 'made possible through the seamless integration of strategic and tactical airlift platforms' including the British A400M seen in MailOnline video, and the American C-17 Globemaster III. Some 25,000 personnel from 29 Allied nations will take part in Swift Response 25, as part of DEFENDER 25. 'It validated NATO's ability to coordinate complex operations across multiple domains and geographies, reinforcing the Alliance's collective defence posture,' a statement said. Sweden announced last year it would discuss with NATO leaders plans to ramp up the militarisation of the island of Gotland, deemed the most strategic location in the Baltic Sea. Described by analysts and commentators as a 'giant aircraft carrier', Stockholm-administered Gotland lies just 120 miles off the coast of NATO's Baltic triad of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, but also just 230 miles north of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Its prime location offers huge advantages in the deployment and control of air and sea traffic in the Baltic Sea, and has been referenced regularly by military analysts and commentators in Russian media as a highly desirable target. Sweden maintained a military presence on Gotland during the Cold War and the island at its peak housed up to 25,000 troops, but in 2005 it was almost completely demilitarised. Now, with Sweden's accession to NATO complete, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the prospect of re-arming Gotland was 'one obvious thing to be discussed with our new NATO allies' as part of a wider ramping up of military readiness in the Baltic. 'Everything to do with the Baltic is such an obvious candidate (for the deployment of military resources),' Kristersson told the FT in an interview last March. 'That goes in terms of presence on Gotland, but also in terms of surveillance, in terms of submarine capabilities.' Russian military analyst and retired Navy Captain Vasily Dandykin told Russian newswire Sputnik that a remilitarisation of Gotland would be seen as a major problem in the halls of the Kremlin.
Free Malaysia Today
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
China marks Lai's first year in office with drills
Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te has vowed 'to prepare for war to avoid war'. (EPA Images pic) BEIJING : China conducted amphibious drills in some of its closest waters to Taiwan as the self-ruled island's president marked one year in office, state broadcaster CCTV said. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, detested by Beijing, vowed on Tuesday 'to prepare for war to avoid war' and bolster the island's economic resilience. That morning, China sent several 'armoured vehicles' into waters off southern Fujian, the eastern Chinese province closest to Taiwan, CCTV said. Footage of the drills released by the broadcaster's military outlet showed several camouflage-patterned tanks pushing off a sandy bank into the ocean. Soldiers in orange life vests drove the tanks around floating obstacles, the roughly minute-long montage showed, backed by an operatic instrumental score. 'Soldier is our identity, training is our daily routine,' said one member of the Chinese brigade, adding: 'We are always ready to fight.' Sets of high-rises could be seen in the background of at least two frames. China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to annex it, has held several rounds of large-scale military drills around the island since Lai took office. Taiwan's defence ministry said on Wednesday it had detected 15 aircraft and eight vessels of the People's Liberation Army operating around the island in the last 24 hours. China's drills were 'routine' and 'scheduled', and there was 'no impact on the security of surrounding sea and airspace', Taiwan's defence ministry said in a statement. AdChoices ADVERTISING Marking the anniversary, Beijing's Taiwan affairs office also slammed Lai's 'separatist position' that promoted 'economic decoupling' across the Taiwan Strait. Beijing was 'willing to engage in dialogue' with Taipei but on condition that it accepts 'the one-China principle', spokesperson Chen Binhua said, referring to its policy that states Taiwan is part of China. Taiwan's Lai had said on Tuesday there was room for communication with Beijing if there was 'parity and dignity'.
Malay Mail
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
North Korea's Kim Jong Un oversees air drills, urges military to intensify war preparations
SEOUL, May 17 — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised drills by the nation's air force and underscored the need for a step-up in war preparation, state media said today. Kim, who inspected anti-aircraft combat and air strike drills by North Korea's 1st Air Division on Thursday, called for 'all units in the entire military' to bring about 'a breakthrough in war preparation', KCNA reported. Footage of the drills on North Korean state TV showed a MiG-29 jet launching a missile, which appeared to be a North Korean version of a Russia-developed mid- to long-range air-to-air missile, said Hong Min, North Korea analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification. So far this month, Kim has overseen a missile test, inspected tank and munitions plants, made a rare visit to the Russian embassy in Pyongyang reaffirming the country's alliance with Russia, and supervised tank firing drills and special operations unit training. North Korea also slammed the US State Department for placing it on a list of countries that do not fully cooperate with US counterterrorism efforts. Pyongyang has been placed on the list every year since 1997, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said. 'The more the US provokes the DPRK with unnecessary and inefficient malicious acts, the further it will escalate the irreconcilable hostility between the DPRK and the US,' a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, using the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. 'The DPRK will... take effective and proper measures to cope with the US hostile provocations in all spheres.' — Reuters
