Chinese and Vietnamese coastguard vessels have been involved in a week-long confrontation over a reef in the South China Sea, according to a media report which said the development could cause the biggest clash between the two neighbours in five years.
The HMAS Canberra and the HMAS Parramatta were on their way to a joint military exercise earlier this year when a Chinese warship followed them, Euan Graham of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute wrote in a blog.
The US Navy said in a statement that the visit "aims to further strengthen the strategic partnership between the two navies by emphasising the importance of information sharing and exchange".
The USS Spruance and USS Preble sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Spratly Islands as part of what the US Navy calls a "freedom of navigation operation," CNN reported.
The Chinese leaders are in Washington to set the stage for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping later this month.
The Chinese warship approached the USS Decatur in an "unsafe and unprofessional maneuver" on Sunday near Gaven Reefs in the South China Sea, said U.S. Pacific Fleet Spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Tim Gorman.
The agreement on the 'Single Draft COC Negotiating Text' was announced ar a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Singapore on Thursday.
Mattis, who is the first Pentagon chief to visit China since 2014, met with Xi as part of a three-day visit to the Chinese capital, following talks with his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe.
The South China Sea, a key trade route, is subject to overlapping claims by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei. Tensions increased in recent years and China has backed its claim with island-building and patrols.
US Defence Secretary James Mattis has accused China of intimidation and coercion because of its military build-up and deployment of high-end weapons in the disputed waters of South China Sea.
China's air force said that its fighter jets, including an H-6K bomber, had recently conducted take-off and landing training on an island reef in the resource-rich South China Sea (SCS).
Addressing the media, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said, "We're well aware of China's militarisation of the South China Sea.
The Chinese air force recently sent its Su-35 fighter jets to take part in a joint combat patrol over the South China Sea, the Chinese air force said in a statement.
The consensus on setting up of a mechanism for deeper maritime cooperation was reached during a retreat session hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the ten ASEAN leaders.
Do global institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF need to be reformed? Will China's growing influence in Asia affect the existing international order?
Vietnam’s Ambassador to India Ton Sinh Thanh said Vietnam welcomes Indian investments in the oil and natural gas sector in its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.
New satellite imagery shows China has built infrastructure covering 72 acres (28 hectares) in the Spratly and Paracel islands during 2017 to equip its larger outposts to be air and naval bases.
The Sanyan Institute of Remote Sensing said the mission would start in 2019, when it would launch three optical satellites, reports Xinhua news agency.
The missile which underwent another test -- the eighth since it was first announced in 2012 -- could be in the People Liberation Army's line-up as early as the first half of 2018, state-run Global Times said.
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