DefenceTalkChinese President Xi Jinping warned that relations between Beijing and Taipei were “grim” on Sunday, urging the island’s main opposition party to help seek “unification of the country.” China views self-ruled democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and vows to retake it one day, by force if necessary. Xi has become the most bellicose […]

DefenceTalkChina’s central bank on Friday said all financial transactions involving cryptocurrencies are illegal, sounding the death knell for digital currencies in China after a crackdown on the volatile trade. The global values of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin have massively fluctuated over the past year partly due to Chinese regulations, which have sought to prevent speculation and […]

DefenceTalkChina voiced opposition on Thursday to Taiwan joining a major trans-Pacific trade deal as it flew 24 planes including two nuclear-capable bombers into the self-ruled island’s air defence zone, the biggest incursion in weeks, Taiwanese officials said. Last week Beijing submitted its own application to become a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for […]

DefenceTalkFrance on Friday recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia in a ferocious row over the scrapping of a submarine contract, an unprecedented step that revealed the extent of French anger against its allies. President Emmanuel Macron recalled the envoys after Canberra ditched a deal to buy French submarines in favour of US […]

DefenceTalkAustralia’s decision to acquire nuclear-powered submarines under a newly announced alliance with the United States and Britain has highlighted regional concerns over China’s growing maritime might in the Pacific. Justifying ditching an earlier deal with France for conventional submarines, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said it was “not a change of mind, it’s a change […]

DefenceTalkA quick barrage of missile tests and bumper defence deals in the Pacific have highlighted a regional arms race that is intensifying as the China-US rivalry grows. “There’s a little frenzy in the Indo-Pacific of arming up,” said Yonsei University professor John Delury. “There’s a sense of everyone’s doing it.” Within 24 hours this week, […]

DefenceTalkDushanbe, Tajikistan: Members of the China and Russia-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Friday endorsed Iran’s future membership of the bloc that already includes South Asian rivals India and Pakistan. The move comes as Moscow and Beijing have moved to assert themselves as key players in the region, after the United States’ hasty retreat from Afghanistan […]

DefenceTalkFrance expressed fury Thursday over Australia’s surprise decision to scrap a huge submarines deal in favor of nuclear-powered subs from the US, slamming the move as a breach of trust. “It’s really a stab in the back. We had established a relationship of trust with Australia, this trust has been betrayed,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le […]

DefenceTalkBeijing on Thursday slammed a new US alliance with Australia and Britain, under which Canberra will acquire nuclear submarine technology, as an “extremely irresponsible” threat to regional stability. The agreement “seriously undermines regional peace and stability and intensifies the arms race”, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular press briefing. The Western allies […]

DefenceTalkThe United States announced a new alliance Wednesday with Australia and Britain to strengthen military capabilities in the face of a rising China, with Canberra to get a nuclear submarine fleet and American cruise missiles. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his British counterpart Boris Johnson did not mention China in unveiling […]