A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer sailed close to China’s man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea on Tuesday, drawing an angry rebuke from Beijing, which said its warships tracked and warned the American vessel.
One U.S. defense official said the USS Lassen sailed within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef. A second defense official said the mission, which lasted a few hours, included Mischief Reef and would be the first in a series of freedom-of-navigation exercises aimed at testing China’s territorial claims.
A Chinese guided-missile destroyer and a naval patrol ship shadowed and gave warnings to the U.S. warship “according to law”, China’s Defense Ministry said in statements on its website, adding that the military would take all necessary steps to protect the country’s security.
The U.S. patrol was a “coercive action that seeks to militarize the South China Sea region” and an “abuse” of freedom of navigation under international law, it added.
China’s Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui summoned U.S. Ambassador Max Baucus over the incident, calling the U.S. patrol “extremely irresponsible,” the Foreign Ministry said on its website. The ministry earlier said the USS Lassen “illegally” entered waters near islands and reefs in the Spratlys without the Chinese government’s permission.
“China will resolutely respond to any country’s deliberate provocations,” the ministry said in a statement that gave no details on precisely where the U.S. ship sailed.
solated North Korea marked the 70th anniversary of its ruling Workers’ Party on Saturday with a massive military parade overseen by leader Kim Jong Un, who said his country was ready to fight any war waged by the United States.
Thousands of troops stood at attention under a blue autumn sky in Pyongyang’s main Kim Il Sung Square, named after Kim Jong Un’s grandfather and the founder of the nation, as Kim, appearing relaxed and confident, made his speech, leaning heavily on the lectern.
The young leader was accompanied by senior Chinese Communist Party official Liu Yunshan, with whom he was seen speaking throughout the event and occasionally shared laughs, and flanked by senior North Korean party and military officials.
“The party’s revolutionary armament means we are ready to fight any kind of war waged by the U.S. imperialists,” Kim said in a speech strikingly more forceful than previous public comments, praising the feats of past leaders and the ruling party.
He made no direct mention of the country’s nuclear programme, likely a conciliatory diplomatic gesture towards China, which hosted the now-defunct “six-party talks”, also involving the United States, on giving economic incentives to Pyongyang in return for scrapping its atomic ambitions.
On Wednesday, a high-level U.S. military official said Washington believed North Korea had the capability to launch a nuclear weapon against the U.S. mainland and stood ready to defend against any such attacks.
Kim’s speech was followed by troops marching in formation, first by a corps of soldiers dressed in the style of the revolutionary force that fought Japan during World War Two, and then a procession of military might rolling past the square.
China has cautiously welcomed a free trade deal struck between 12 Pacific Rim countries, the biggest in decades.
The US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) cuts trade tariffs and sets common standards in member countries including Japan and the US.
China said it was "open to any mechanism" that follows World Trade Organization rules.
But it did not indicate it would join the TPP, which still needs to be ratified by lawmakers in each country.
China, which was not part of the negotiations, has announced its own rival trade agreement.
Image copyrightAssociated PressImage captionJapanese PM Shinzo Abe welcomed the pact but said it would contribute to regional stability if China joined
The TPP, which covers about 40% of the world economy, was struck on Monday after five days of talks in Atlanta in the US.
Those talks were the culmination of five years of negotiations between member countries led by the US. The deal is seen by some as a counter balance to China's growing economic influence in the Asia Pacific region.
'Regional stability'
China's Ministry of Commerce called the TPP "one of the key free trade agreements for the Asia-Pacific region", according to a statement on Xinhua state news agency website.
"China hopes the TPP pact and other free trade arrangements in the region can boost each other and contribute to the Asia-Pacific's trade, investment and economic growth," it said.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday the deal signified a "new Asia-Pacific century", but added that it would have strategic meaning if China joined in the future.
"It would contribute largely to our nation's security and Asia-Pacific regional stability," he said.
Media captionWhich countries are in the TPP and what does it mean?
How did it start? With a trade agreement signed 10 years ago between Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore.
How big is it? Pretty big. The 12 countries have a population of about 800 million and are responsible for 40% of world trade.
North Korea's nuclear programme remains a source of deep concern for the international community. The BBC looks at North Korea's nuclear ambitions and multinational efforts to curtail them despite three nuclear tests.
Has North Korea got the bomb?
Image copyrightAFPImage captionPyongyang used a three-stage rocket to put a satellite into space in 2012
Technically yes, but not yet the means to deliver it via a missile.
In 2006, 2009 and again in 2013, North Korea announced that it had conducted successful nuclear tests - they all came after the North was sanctioned by the UN for launching rockets.
Analysts believe the first two tests used plutonium as the fissile material. The North is believed to possess enough weapons-grade plutonium for at least six bombs. Whether it used plutonium or uranium for the 2013 test is unclear.
What do we know about the North's nuclear programme?
Image copyrightAFPImage captionNorth Korea carried a nuclear test in 2009, which resulted in seismic waves shown here in Seoul
The Yongbyon site is thought to be its main nuclear facility. The North has pledged several times to halt operations there and even destroyed the cooling tower in 2008 as part of a disarmament-for-aid deal.
But in March 2013, after a war of words with the US and with new UN sanctions over the North's third nuclear test, it vowed to restart all facilities at Yongbyon.
However, the US never believed Pyongyang was fully disclosing all of its nuclear facilities - a suspicion bolstered when North Korea unveiled a uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon (purportedly for electricity generation) to US scientist Siegfried Hecker in 2010.
Mr Hecker's 2010 visit and subsequent report remains the most recent and reliable account of the complex.
In April 2015 a US think tank said satellite pictures taken in early 2015 suggested the reactor at Yongbyon may have been restarted.
Then in September, state media announced that "normal operation" had started at the production plant.
Image copyrightReutersImage captionThe US and North Korea aimed at restarting denuclearisation talks before Kim Jong-il, right, died
Both the US and South Korea have also said that they believed the North had additional sites linked to a uranium-enrichment programme.
A test based on a uranium device would spell new dangers for monitoring and proliferation because weapons-grade plutonium enrichment happens in large facilities that are easier to spot.
Uranium enrichment uses many, possibly small, centrifuges that can be hidden away. While North Korea has depleted its stocks of "reactor-grade" plutonium needed to make the weapons-grade variety, the country has plentiful reserves of uranium ore.
North Korea's nuclear programme remains a source of deep concern for the international community. The BBC looks at North Korea's nuclear ambitions and multinational efforts to curtail them despite three nuclear tests.
Has North Korea got the bomb?
Image copyrightAFPImage captionPyongyang used a three-stage rocket to put a satellite into space in 2012
Technically yes, but not yet the means to deliver it via a missile.
In 2006, 2009 and again in 2013, North Korea announced that it had conducted successful nuclear tests - they all came after the North was sanctioned by the UN for launching rockets.
Analysts believe the first two tests used plutonium as the fissile material. The North is believed to possess enough weapons-grade plutonium for at least six bombs. Whether it used plutonium or uranium for the 2013 test is unclear.
What do we know about the North's nuclear programme?
Image copyrightAFPImage captionNorth Korea carried a nuclear test in 2009, which resulted in seismic waves shown here in Seoul
The Yongbyon site is thought to be its main nuclear facility. The North has pledged several times to halt operations there and even destroyed the cooling tower in 2008 as part of a disarmament-for-aid deal.
But in March 2013, after a war of words with the US and with new UN sanctions over the North's third nuclear test, it vowed to restart all facilities at Yongbyon.
However, the US never believed Pyongyang was fully disclosing all of its nuclear facilities - a suspicion bolstered when North Korea unveiled a uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon (purportedly for electricity generation) to US scientist Siegfried Hecker in 2010.
Mr Hecker's 2010 visit and subsequent report remains the most recent and reliable account of the complex.
In April 2015 a US think tank said satellite pictures taken in early 2015 suggested the reactor at Yongbyon may have been restarted.
Then in September, state media announced that "normal operation" had started at the production plant.
Image copyrightReutersImage captionThe US and North Korea aimed at restarting denuclearisation talks before Kim Jong-il, right, died
Both the US and South Korea have also said that they believed the North had additional sites linked to a uranium-enrichment programme.
A test based on a uranium device would spell new dangers for monitoring and proliferation because weapons-grade plutonium enrichment happens in large facilities that are easier to spot.
Uranium enrichment uses many, possibly small, centrifuges that can be hidden away. While North Korea has depleted its stocks of "reactor-grade" plutonium needed to make the weapons-grade variety, the country has plentiful reserves of uranium ore. North Korea's nuclear programme remains a source of deep concern for the international community. The BBC looks at North Korea's nuclear ambitions and multinational efforts to curtail them despite three nuclear tests.
Has North Korea got the bomb?
Image copyrightAFPImage captionPyongyang used a three-stage rocket to put a satellite into space in 2012
Technically yes, but not yet the means to deliver it via a missile.
In 2006, 2009 and again in 2013, North Korea announced that it had conducted successful nuclear tests - they all came after the North was sanctioned by the UN for launching rockets.
Analysts believe the first two tests used plutonium as the fissile material. The North is believed to possess enough weapons-grade plutonium for at least six bombs. Whether it used plutonium or uranium for the 2013 test is unclear.
What do we know about the North's nuclear programme?
Image copyrightAFPImage captionNorth Korea carried a nuclear test in 2009, which resulted in seismic waves shown here in Seoul
The Yongbyon site is thought to be its main nuclear facility. The North has pledged several times to halt operations there and even destroyed the cooling tower in 2008 as part of a disarmament-for-aid deal.
But in March 2013, after a war of words with the US and with new UN sanctions over the North's third nuclear test, it vowed to restart all facilities at Yongbyon.
However, the US never believed Pyongyang was fully disclosing all of its nuclear facilities - a suspicion bolstered when North Korea unveiled a uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon (purportedly for electricity generation) to US scientist Siegfried Hecker in 2010.
Mr Hecker's 2010 visit and subsequent report remains the most recent and reliable account of the complex.
In April 2015 a US think tank said satellite pictures taken in early 2015 suggested the reactor at Yongbyon may have been restarted.
Then in September, state media announced that "normal operation" had started at the production plant.
Image copyrightReutersImage captionThe US and North Korea aimed at restarting denuclearisation talks before Kim Jong-il, right, died
Both the US and South Korea have also said that they believed the North had additional sites linked to a uranium-enrichment programme.
A test based on a uranium device would spell new dangers for monitoring and proliferation because weapons-grade plutonium enrichment happens in large facilities that are easier to spot.
Uranium enrichment uses many, possibly small, centrifuges that can be hidden away. While North Korea has depleted its stocks of "reactor-grade" plutonium needed to make the weapons-grade variety, the country has plentiful reserves of uranium ore.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
North Korea confirmed Tuesday that the nuclear reactor seen as the
country's main source of weapons-grade plutonium had resumed normal
operations.
In an interview with the North's official KCNA news
agency, the institutes's director said all facilities at the Yongbyon
nuclear complex – including a five-megawatt reactor – had "started
normal operations".
North Korea
mothballed the Yongbyon reactor in 2007 under an aid-for-disarmament
accord, but began renovating it after its last nuclear test in 2013.
Since then, satellite imagery analysis has suggested the partial and
intermittent restart of the reactor which, when fully operational, is
capable of producing around six kilos (13 pounds) of plutonium a year –
enough for one nuclear bomb, experts say.
The AEI director, who was not named, said scientists and technicians
had been "steadily improving" both the quality and quantity of the
North's nuclear deterrent and issued a by-now standard warning to the
United States.
"If the US and other hostile forces persistently seek their reckless
hostile policy ... (North Korea) is fully ready to cope with them with
nuclear weapons any time," he said.
The warning followed strong hints from Pyongyang that it is
considering a satellite rocket launch to mark the 70th anniversary of
the founding of the ruling Workers' Party on October 10.
The North insists its rocket launches are intended to put peaceful
satellites into orbit, while the United States and its allies see them
as disguised ballistic missile tests.
Japan’s parliament voted into law on Saturday a defence policy shift
that could let troops fight overseas for the first time since 1945,
amid Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to loosen the limits of the
pacifist constitution on the military.
Abe
says the shift, the biggest change in Japan’s defence policy since the
creation of its post-war military in 1954, is vital to meet new
challenges such as from a rising China.
But the legislation has triggered massive protests from ordinary
citizens and others who say it violates the pacifist constitution and
could ensnare Japan in U.S.-led conflicts after 70 years of post-war
peace. Abe’s ratings have also taken a hit.
The legislation “is necessary to protect the people’s lives and
peaceful way of living and is for the purpose of preventing wars,” Abe
told reporters after the bills were approved by the upper house. “I want
to keep explaining the laws tenaciously and courteously.”
Japan’s ally the United States has welcomed the changes but China,
where bitter memories of Japan’s wartime aggression run deep, has
repeatedly expressed concern about the legislation.
“Recently we have noticed that voices in Japan opposing the bill have
become louder by the day,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei
told a regular news briefing on Friday.
“We demand that Japan earnestly listen to these just voices
domestically and internationally, learn the lessons of history, uphold
the path of peaceful development, speak and act cautiously in security
and military matters and take actual steps to maintain regional peace
and stability,” Hong added.
The bills, already approved by parliament’s lower house, were voted
into law by the upper chamber in the early hours of Saturday despite
opposition parties’ efforts to block a vote by submitting censure
motions and a no-confidence motion against Abe’s cabinet in the lower
house. All were defeated.
A key feature of the laws is an end to a long-standing ban on
exercising the right of collective self-defence, or defending the United
States or another friendly country that comes under attack, in cases
where Japan faces a “threat to its survival”.
Multi-millionaire former banker Malcolm Turnbull was
sworn in as prime minister of Australia on Tuesday, just hours after
masterminding a coup against conservative leader Tony Abbott, and
pledging a new style of leadership.
Turnbull is the country's fourth prime minister in just over two years, a recent Australian political tradition the deposed Abbott slammed as a "revolving door" that was not good for the country.
"This is the most exciting time to be an Australian," Turnbull told reporters in the capital before taking the oath.
"This is a turn of events I did not expect, I have to tell you, but
it's one that I'm privileged to undertake, and one that I'm certainly up
to."
Turnbull, a suave former lawyer, has pledged to run a consultative government, in contrast to Abbott's divisive rule.
"My firm belief is that to be a successful leader in 2015, perhaps at
any time, you have to be able to bring people with you by respecting
their intelligence in the manner you explain things," he said Monday.
"We need advocacy, not slogans."
Abbott lashed out at the savage nature of modern politics after his sudden toppling by his long-time Liberal Party colleague and rival – who served as communications minister before making the challenge.
"The nature of politics has changed in the past decade. We have more
polls and more commentary than ever before, mostly sour, bitter
character assassination," Abbott told a farewell press conference.
He won power in a general election victory in September 2013 but his
first budget, with its harsh cuts to health and education, proved highly
unpopular.
Abbott survived a leadership challenge in February after poor polling and a series of gaffes ignited a backbench revolt.
But he failed to turn around the polls, bolster the economy or stop damaging internal leaks, and lost the support of his party.
