South East Asia

Chinese aircraft, ships and drones circle Taiwan on final day of military drills

The Chinese military continued joint air-naval exercises on Sunday, simulating attacks on Taiwan, the Taiwanese defense ministry said as China announced new drills north of the island in the Yellow Sea. It was the last day of drills held as an angry response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit …

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Drones used by Iran-backed militias are coming from China, US says

Senior US official accuses Beijing of playing both sides in the Middle East’s race for drone technology. Unmanned drones fired by Iran-backed militias at targets across the Middle East in recent years, sometimes with lethal effect, are being supplied from China, a senior US official revealed. Barbara Leaf, the State …

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Chinese Weaponry We Can Expect To See Used During Their Current ‘War Games’

Just as the second person in line for the US Presidency touched down in Taiwan the other day, the Chinese state-run news agency, Xinhua, released a map showing six boxed zones where their nation will be conducting war games not far from the coast of the disputed island nation. A …

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Blinken: China military drills are ‘significant escalation’

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that China’s military exercises aimed at Taiwan, including missiles fired into Japan’s exclusive economic zone, represent a “significant escalation” and that he has urged Beijing to back down. China launched the drills following a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to …

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SITREP: China Starts Live Military Exercises Around Taiwan, Cyberattacks Happening in the Country

What we thought was posturing has now escalated to live firing exercises. Yesterday, SOFREP reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had moved forward with her plan to visit Taiwan amidst warnings from China that they would be resolute in their response. In a separate report here at SOFREP, we also …

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US ‘will not abandon’ its commitment to Taiwan, Pelosi says in Taipei

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged her commitment to Taiwan on Wednesday as Chinese ships and aircraft ramped up their military activity in response to her visit. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen presented Pelosi the Order of Propitious Clouds with Special Grand Cordon award, during a livestreamed ceremony that morning. “Now …

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India Will Move Away From Russian Weapons, Grounds All Their MiG-21s Following Fatal Crash

The times of India reports that India has grounded its remaining fleet of Russian-made MiG-21s after another fatal crash that claimed the lives of two pilots on a training mission. Last week in the Barmer district of Rajasthan, Wing Commander M Rana and Flight Lieutenant Advitiya Bal were killed when …

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The Folly of Pakistan’s China Gamble

Why Relying on Beijing Is a Bad Bet In July, a popular uprising in Sri Lanka toppled the government and sent its president scurrying into exile. The revolt had been brewing for months in the wake of the country’s economic implosion, but it still caught observers off-guard. In surreal scenes, …

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Zawahri’s Kabul death raises questions about al Qaeda presence in Afghanistan after US left it to the Taliban

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahri’s death in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is raising questions about whether the country is being used as a base of operations for the terrorist group. “What unnerves me is that Al Zawahri felt comfortable enough being out in the open in the Kabul area after the …

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Afghanistan-Pakistan: HGB Violent Reassertion – Analysis

On July 28, 2022, Security Forces (SFs) killed two Hafiz Gul Bahadur (HGB) militants in the Manzer Khel area of the North Waziristan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. The Hafiz Gul Bahadur faction is a breakaway of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. On July 23, 2022, three HGB militants were killed in …

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