Malaysian Minister of Defense Hishammuddin Hussein said he would meet his Australian counterpart next week to discuss China’s military buildup in the disputed South China Sea and hold talks with fellow claimants the Philippines and Vietnam.
China claims most of the energy-rich waters through which about US$5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam also have claims.
Beijing is feeling public pressure at home to show it can protect its claims to the waters after the US began conducting “freedom of navigation” operations near islands where China has been carrying out controversial reclamation work and stationing advanced weapons.
Hishammuddin said he would meet Australian Minister of Defense Marise Payne to ensure efforts are made to “hold China to their promise of not placing military assets in the area.”
“If the reports we’ve received from various sources regarding the buildup and placement of military assets in the Spratlys [Spratly Islands, Nansha Islands, 南沙群島] are true — this forces us in a pushback against China,” Hishammuddin told reporters.
The 10-member ASEAN last month said it was “seriously concerned” over developments in the disputed waters, which includes recent missile and fighter jet deployments by China in the Paracel Island (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) chain.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
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Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia