https://www.scmp.com/rss/523460/feed The latest news and top stories on the US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), a prominent Hawaii-based unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces, and the oldest and largest of its kind. Dedicated to deterring aggression and ensuring stability, its primary mission involves protecting US interests and promoting security cooperation across the vast Indo-Pacific region, covering over half the Earth’s surface. USINDOPACOM oversees military operations, integrating all-domain combat... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Sophie Wushuang Yi Sophie Wushuang Yi “Balikatan 2026” is meant to reassure allies and deter adversaries. But the military exercise hosted by the Philippines also reveals a harsher truth: the Indo-Pacific is drifting into a security logic in which deterrence no longer contains risk but multiplies it. Every move taken in the name of stability now invites a countermove. Every display of resolve is answered by another. The result is not equilibrium, but a trap. That is why diplomacy has to return to the centre of regional strategy... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3351382/without-diplomacy-deterrence-asia-path-escalation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3351382/without-diplomacy-deterrence-asia-path-escalation?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Apr 2026 21:30:08 +0000 Yuanyue Dang Yuanyue Dang China’s next-generation “drone-carrier” amphibious assault ship is en route to the South China Sea for critical sea trials, the military announced on Tuesday, in the same waters where the US, the Philippines and Japan are conducting large-scale joint military exercises and the aircraft carrier Liaoning is apparently sailing to. “The Sichuan, our country’s first Type 076 amphibious assault ship, has set sail from Shanghai for relevant waters in the South China Sea to carry out scientific research... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3350932/chinas-new-type-076-drone-carrier-take-part-south-china-sea-training-drills?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3350932/chinas-new-type-076-drone-carrier-take-part-south-china-sea-training-drills?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Apr 2026 21:09:29 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press North Korea launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles towards the sea on Sunday, its neighbours said, days after the UN’s nuclear watchdog warned that North Korea was making “very serious” advances in efforts to build nuclear weapons. The missiles fired from the North’s Sinpo area flew about 140 kilometres (87 miles) each towards the country’s eastern waters, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. It said South Korea maintains a readiness to repel any provocations by North Korea and is... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3350644/north-korea-launches-ballistic-missiles-un-warns-nuclear-advances?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3350644/north-korea-launches-ballistic-missiles-un-warns-nuclear-advances?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:54:15 +0000 Maria Siow Maria Siow The United States’ decision to lift key arms-export restrictions on Cambodia signals a thaw in long-strained defence ties, but Phnom Penh is likely to make only modest purchases and remain heavily reliant on Chinese weaponry for the foreseeable future, analysts say. In what Cambodian media described as a landmark move, the US Department of Commerce last week removed Cambodia from “Country Group D:5” – a classification that had effectively barred most US arms exports – according to a notice... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3343079/what-us-lifting-arms-embargo-cambodia-means-defence-ties?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3343079/what-us-lifting-arms-embargo-cambodia-means-defence-ties?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Feb 2026 11:07:49 +0000 Maria Siow Maria Siow A visit by a United States warship to a Cambodian port built with major Chinese backing has underscored Phnom Penh’s superpower balancing act, but observers say American concerns will linger over the facility’s usage being dominated by Beijing. The USS Cincinnati arrived on Saturday at Ream Naval Base as part of a mission to strengthen cooperation between Cambodian-US forces and departed from the Preah Sihanouk location on Wednesday, local media reported. The littoral combat ship is the first... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3341797/will-us-warship-visit-calm-fears-intelligence-outpost-cambodian-naval-base?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3341797/will-us-warship-visit-calm-fears-intelligence-outpost-cambodian-naval-base?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Jan 2026 06:53:59 +0000 Seong Hyeon Choi,Sylvie Zhuang Seong Hyeon Choi,Sylvie Zhuang The reported US seizure of a ship allegedly carrying Chinese-made dual-use components to Iran might signal Washington was “testing the waters” on reviving an old tactic to pressure Beijing’s ties with its adversaries, but such moves risked breaching international law, analysts said. An American special operations team boarded a ship from China bound for Iran in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka last month, The Wall Street Journal reported last Friday. Citing sources, it said the operation aimed to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3336545/us-testing-waters-reported-seizure-chinese-cargo-bound-iran?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3336545/us-testing-waters-reported-seizure-chinese-cargo-bound-iran?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Dec 2025 02:00:16 +0000 Amber Wang Amber Wang China and the United States have held their second round of maritime security talks this year to help manage risks between their militaries, according to the Chinese navy. The talks, held in Hawaii from Tuesday to Thursday, were “candid and constructive,” the PLA Navy said in a statement on Saturday. It said both sides exchanged views on the security situation, discussing cases of air and sea encounters and measures to improve operational safety. The meeting marked the latest effort by the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3333801/china-us-hold-candid-maritime-security-talks-amid-japan-south-china-sea-tensions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3333801/china-us-hold-candid-maritime-security-talks-amid-japan-south-china-sea-tensions?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Nov 2025 12:08:42 +0000 Liu Zhen Liu Zhen Details of the first joint Russian-Chinese submarine exercise have been published in a military magazine, which said the two countries shared sonar data and carried out rescue exercises. The exercise in early August involved two Kilo-class diesel-electric attack submarines, the Russian Volkhov and Chinese Great Wall 210, with two Russian surface ships providing support throughout the exercise. The 15-day exercise took place after the Joint Sea 2025 exercise involving the two navies in the Sea of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3331124/details-russian-chinese-joint-submarine-exercise-sent-message-us-released?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3331124/details-russian-chinese-joint-submarine-exercise-sent-message-us-released?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Nov 2025 04:00:20 +0000 Park Chan-kyong Park Chan-kyong South Korea, Japan and the United States will hold a trilateral military drill this month, in what analysts describe as a display of allied cohesion led by Washington to counter the perceived show of solidarity by regional rivals. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Friday that the “multi-domain” exercise, known as Freedom Edge, would take place in international waters east and south of Jeju Island from September 15 to 19. “The drills are an annual exercise aimed at responding to North... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3324466/south-korea-japan-us-bolster-first-island-chain-defence-freedom-edge-drills?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3324466/south-korea-japan-us-bolster-first-island-chain-defence-freedom-edge-drills?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Sep 2025 07:08:16 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Indonesia and the United States launched joint military drills on Monday that will last more than a week, joining allies from 11 countries in exercises aimed at ensuring stability in the Asia-Pacific region. The annual “Super Garuda Shield” drills will take place in the capital, Jakarta, and several locations on the western island of Sumatra and the Riau archipelago until September 4. This year’s exercises focused on strengthening regional ties in an increasingly unstable global landscape, said... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3323032/indonesia-us-start-13-nation-super-garuda-shield-military-drills?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3323032/indonesia-us-start-13-nation-super-garuda-shield-military-drills?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Aug 2025 06:07:14 +0000 Robert Delaney,Bochen Han Robert Delaney,Bochen Han The US House of Representatives passed a massive tax-and-spending bill on Thursday that President Donald Trump has sought since returning to the White House, an initiative that fundamentally revamps government spending and jeopardises dozens of planned clean energy projects with ties to China. Passing 218 to 214, the sprawling One Big Beautiful Bill Act – which would lock in Trump’s priorities on border and defence financing, and make permanent tax cuts that Congress passed at Trump’s behest... https://www.scmp.com/news/us/politics/article/3316876/us-house-passes-trump-policy-bill-which-will-head-white-house-presidents-signature?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/us/politics/article/3316876/us-house-passes-trump-policy-bill-which-will-head-white-house-presidents-signature?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Jul 2025 18:32:50 +0000