Ambassador chinas historical documents on sovereignty baseless

US Naval forces are, for a third time, entering a disputed region in the South China Sea using a carrier group to test the waters while claiming they are merely exercising “freedom of navigation,” according to China Cheat Sheets. However, China has rebuked the effort as a violation of their state sovereignty and a direct challenge to their national interests.  US War Ships to Test Chinese South Sea Sovereignty a Third Time https://t.co/p3vsiQvimW pic.twitter.com/Hmc7DDXnbI — China Cheat Sheets (@ChinaCheatSheet) April 2, 2016 ​According to maritime law, a given state rules the ocean up to 12 nautical miles away from their shore creating an extended border from the shore. Such a rule also applies to islands including those claimed by China in the South China Sea which are also claimed by other countries. © Flickr / U.S. Pacific FleetGrowing Provocation: US to … [Read more...] about US Challenges China, Tests Sovereignty in South China Sea

I had not given much thought to the flight plan of the airline I recently booked to go back to the U.S. from Vietnam, but recent events in the airspace over the South China Sea prompted an online search. As I discovered, my commercial flight would fly not far from where a U.S. surveillance plane was warned to leave on May 20 by a Chinese radar operator. The P8-A Poseidon, the U.S. military's most advanced surveillance aircraft, was flying near artificial islands that China is constructing, and the order is thought to have come from an early warning radar station on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Island chain, on which the Chinese have been constructing military facilities, which include a 10,000-foot runway. New satellite images show heightened reclamation work by China at seven sites in the Spratlys, adding around 2,000 acres of land since March 2014. Beijing claimed last month that the new islands would provide weather forecasting and search and rescue facilities for the benefit of … [Read more...] about The Clash Over Air Space Above the South China Sea

In Berlin on Thursday, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called the attempted expulsion of German Ambassador to Venezuela Daniel Kriener "incomprehensible" and "unacceptable." He added that Germany's support for Interim Venezuelan President Juan Guaido in his power struggle with Acting President Nicolas Maduro was "unshakable."a persona non grata. Previously, the German ambassador had greeted Guaido upon the latter's return to Venezuela after meetings with leaders and supporters in neighboring countries. Maas said Kriener had acted on explicit instructions from the German Foreign Ministry. "It was my express wish and request  that Ambassador Kriener turn out with representatives of other European nations and Latin American ones to meet acting President Guaido at the airport," Mass told reporters. "We had information that he was supposed to be arrested there. I believe that the presence of various ambassadors helped prevent such an arrest." Watch video 02:20 … [Read more...] about Germany slams Nicolas Maduro’s Venezuela over ambassador expulsion

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, in Washington's latest challenge of Chinese land reclamation in the South China Sea, said the scale of Beijing's activities, not the United States, was altering the status quo in the region. Carter, speaking to reporters at the start of a 10-day trip to Asia, said the United States was trying to maintain a shared regional security structure that has advanced "prosperity for everyone" over the past 70 years. "We've been flying over the South China Sea for years and years and years, and ... will continue to do that: fly, navigate, operate. So that's not a new fact," Carter said. "The new facts are the reclamation and the scale on which it is being done, and that's not an American fact, that's a Chinese fact," Carter said. The United States has publicly highlighted Chinese island-building in the disputed Spratly Islands several times in recent weeks. Carter called for an end to the land reclamation work by … [Read more...] about China Land Reclamation in South China Sea Creates ‘New Facts’: U.S.

* Plan sees combined capacity reduction of 25% to 33% by end-2021 * Some of the utilities’ coal-fired plants have gone bankrupt * The 5 firms account for 44% of China’s coal-fired power capacity (Recasts and adds details of plan, government researcher comment) By Muyu Xu and Dominique Patton BEIJING, Dec 2 (Reuters) - China plans to slash coal-fired power capacity at its five biggest utilities by as much as a third in two years by merging their assets, according to a document seen by Reuters and four sources with knowledge of the matter. The move to shed older and less-efficient capacity is being driven by pressure to cut heavy debt levels at the utilities. China, is, however, building more coal-fired power plants and approving dozens of new mines to bolster a slowing economy. The five utilities, which are controlled by the central government, accounted for around 44% of China’s total coal-fired power capacity at the end of 2018. “(The utilities) will … [Read more...] about UPDATE 1-China to slash coal-fired power capacity at big utilities by merging assets -document