SHANGHAI: New Chinese coast guard rules took effect Saturday, under which it can detain foreigners for trespassing in the disputed South China Sea, where neighbors and the G7 have accused Beijing of intimidation and coercion.
Beijing claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, brushing aside competing claims from several Southeast Asian nations including the Philippines and an international ruling that its stance has no legal basis.
China deploys coast guard and other boats to patrol the waters and has turned several reefs into militarized artificial islands. Chinese and Philippine vessels have had a series of confrontations in disputed areas.
From Saturday, China’s coast guard can detain foreigners “suspected of violating management of border entry and exit,” according to the new regulations published online.
Detention is allowed up to 60 days in “complicated cases,” they say.
“Foreign ships that have illegally entered China’s territorial waters and the adjacent waters may be detained.”
Manila has accused the Chinese coast guard of “barbaric and inhumane behavior” against Philippine vessels, and President Ferdinand Marcos said last month called the new rules a “very worrisome” escalation.
China Coast Guard vessels have used water cannon against Philippine boats multiple times in the contested waters.
There have also been collisions that injured Filipino troops.
Philippine military chief General Romeo Brawner told reporters on Friday that authorities in Manila were “discussing a number of steps to be undertaken in order for us to protect our fishermen.”
Philippine fishermen were told “not to be afraid, but just to go ahead with their normal activities to fish there in our Exclusive Economic Zone,” Brawner said.
The Group of Seven bloc on Friday criticized what it called “dangerous” incursions by China in the waterway.
“We oppose China’s militarization, and coercive and intimidation activities in the South China Sea,” read a G7 statement at the end of a summit on Friday.
The South China Sea is a vital waterway, where Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei also have overlapping claims in some parts.
Most recently, however, confrontations between China and the Philippines have raised fears of a wider conflict over the sea that could involve the United States and other allies.
Trillions of dollars in ship-borne trade passes through the South China Sea annually, and huge unexploited oil and gas deposits are believed to lie under its seabed, though estimates vary greatly.
The sea is also important as a source of fish for growing populations.
China has defended its new coast guard rules. A foreign ministry spokesman said last month that they were intended to “better uphold order at sea.”
And the Chinese defense minister warned this month that there were “limits” to Beijing’s restraint in the South China Sea.
China has also been angered in the past by US and other Western warships sailing through the South China Sea.
The US Navy and others undertake such voyages to assert the freedom of navigation in international waters, but Beijing considers them violations of its sovereignty.
Chinese and US forces have had a series of close encounters in the South China Sea.
New China rules allow detention of foreigners in South China Sea
https://arab.news/gae57
New China rules allow detention of foreigners in South China Sea
- China Coast Guard vessels have used water cannon against Philippine boats multiple times in the contested waters
- Confrontations between China and the Philippines have raised fears of a wider conflict that could involve the US and other allies
US aircraft carrier arrives in South Korea, days after North Korea test-fired missiles
- A US aircraft carrier has arrived in South Korea in a show of force, days after North Korea test-launched cruise missiles to demonstrate its counterattack capabilities
The arrival of the USS Carl Vinson and its strike group at the South Korean port of Busan was meant to display a solid U.S-South Korean military alliance in the face of persistent North Korean threats, and boost interoperability of the allies’ combined assets, the South Korean navy said in a statement.
It said it was the first US aircraft carrier to travel to South Korea since June.
The deployment of the carrier is expected to infuriate North Korea, which views temporary deployments of such powerful US military assets as major security threats. North Korea has responded to some of the past deployments of US aircraft carriers, long-range bombers and nuclear-powered submarines with missile tests.
Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, President Donald Trump has said he will reach out to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again to revive diplomacy. North Korea hasn’t directly responded to Trump’s overture but alleged US-led hostilities against North Korea have intensified since Trump’s inauguration.
North Korea said Friday it test-fired strategic cruise missiles earlier last week to inform its adversaries of its military’s counterattack capability and the readiness of its nuclear operations. After watching the launches, the North’s fourth missile testing event this year, Kim ordered his military to be fully ready to use its nuclear weapons.
Experts say Kim won’t likely accept Trump’s overture anytime soon as he is now focusing on his support of Russia’s war against Ukraine with provision of weapons and troops. They say Kim could consider resuming diplomacy with Trump when he thinks he cannot maintain his country’s current booming cooperation with Russia
Kim and Trump met three times from 2018-19 during Trump’s first term to discuss the future of North Korea’s nuclear program. Their high-stakes diplomacy eventually collapsed due to wrangling over US-led economic sanctions on North Korea.
Afghan TV station reopens after closure by Taliban authorities
- Taliban authorities shut down TV station after accusing it of betraying Islamic values
- Taliban government has not yet indicated reason the station was allowed to reopen
KABUL: An Afghan TV station resumed operations Saturday, its leadership said, after being shut down in December by the Taliban morality ministry.
Seals placed on Arezo TV’s doors in Kabul were removed in the presence of the country’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV), said station head Bassir Abid, who reported that the outlet had “resumed our operations.”
Taliban authorities shut down the TV station on December 4 after the PVPV accused the channel of being supported by exiled media and of betraying Islamic values.
Seven of Arezo TV’s employees were arrested but released later in December, while the media outlet remained shuttered.
The Taliban government has not yet indicated the reason the station was allowed to reopen.
The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC), a press freedom group, welcomed the reopening but said in a statement it considered the closure “a flagrant violation of free media rights that should not have happened.”
The channel, founded in 2006 in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, opened an office in Kabul in 2010 to produce wildlife documentaries and dub Turkish series, according to AFJC.
Afghanistan’s media sector has dramatically shrunk under three years of the Taliban government, while international monitors have criticized Kabul’s new rulers for allegedly trampling reporters’ rights.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says the country’s Taliban authorities closed at least 12 media outlets in 2024.
Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has previously said there are no restrictions on journalists, as long as they “consider the national interest and Islamic values and avoid spreading rumors.”
In early February, Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities raided well-known women’s radio station Radio Begum in Kabul and suspended its broadcasts.
Ukrainian attacks on Russian border have killed 652 civilian so far, TASS reports
Ukrainian attacks on Russian regions on and near the border with Ukraine have killed 652 civilians so far, the head of Russia's Investigative Committee told the TASS news agency in remarks published on Sunday, without providing evidence.
Twenty-three children were among those killed, Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the committee, told TASS. Nearly 3,000 have been wounded, he added.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in their attack in the war that Russia launched with its full-scale invasion on Ukraine three years ago. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.
Private US spaceship hours from Moon landing attempt
- Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 is targeting landing no sooner than 3:34 a.m. US Eastern time (0834 GMT) on Sunday
- Landing site target is near Mons Latreille, a volcanic feature in Mare Crisium on the Moon’s northeastern near side
WASHINGTON: After a long journey through space, a US company is just hours away from attempting a daring lunar touchdown — its spacecraft poised to become only the second private lander to achieve the feat if it succeeds.
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 is targeting landing no sooner than 3:34 a.m. US Eastern time (0834 GMT) on Sunday, aiming for a site near Mons Latreille, a volcanic feature in Mare Crisium on the Moon’s northeastern near side.
“Blue Ghost is ready to take the wheel!” the company posted on X on Saturday evening, adding flight controllers had just initiated a key maneuver that lowers a spacecraft’s orbit.
Nicknamed “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” the mission comes just over a year after the first-ever commercial lunar landing and is part of a NASA partnership with industry to cut costs and support Artemis, the program aiming to return astronauts to the Moon.
The golden lander, about the size of a hippopotamus, launched on January 15 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, capturing stunning footage of Earth and the Moon along the way. It shared a ride with a Japanese company’s lander set to attempt a landing in May.
Blue Ghost carries ten instruments, including a lunar soil analyzer, a radiation-tolerant computer and an experiment testing the feasibility of using the existing global satellite navigation system to navigate the Moon.
Designed to operate for a full lunar day (14 Earth days), Blue Ghost is expected to capture high-definition imagery of a total eclipse on March 14, when Earth blocks the Sun from the Moon’s horizon.
On March 16, it will record a lunar sunset, offering insights into how dust levitates above the surface under solar influence — creating the mysterious lunar horizon glow first documented by Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan.
Blue Ghost’s arrival will be followed on March 6 by Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission, featuring its lander Athena.
In February 2024, Intuitive Machines became the first private company to achieve a soft lunar landing — also the first US landing since the crewed Apollo 17 mission of 1972.
However, the success was tempered by a mishap: the lander came down too fast, tipped over on impact, leaving it unable to generate enough solar power and cutting the mission short.
This time, the company says it has made key improvements to the hexagonal-shaped lander, which has a taller, slimmer profile than Blue Ghost, and is around the height of an adult giraffe.
Athena launched on Wednesday aboard a SpaceX rocket, taking a more direct route toward Mons Mouton — the southernmost lunar landing site ever attempted.
Its payloads include three rovers, a drill to search for ice and the star of the show: a first-of-its-kind hopping drone designed to explore the Moon’s rugged terrain.
Landing on the Moon presents unique challenges due to the absence of an atmosphere, making parachutes ineffective.
Instead, spacecraft must rely on precisely controlled thruster burns to slow their descent.
Until Intuitive Machines’ first successful mission, only five national space agencies had accomplished this feat: the Soviet Union, the United States, China, India and Japan, in that order.
Now, the United States is working to make private lunar missions routine through NASA’s $2.6 billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
The missions come at a delicate moment for NASA, amid speculation that it may scale back or even cancel its Artemis lunar program in favor of prioritizing Mars exploration — a key goal of both President Donald Trump and his close adviser, SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
Trump’s Oval Office thrashing of Zelensky shows limits of Western allies’ ability to sway US leader
- White House blowout capped a week of largely futile efforts by US allies to steer Trump away from his flirtations with Moscow
- Sen. Lindsey Graham said he had warned Zelensky before the meeting “not to take the bait” in his dealings with Trump
WASHINGTON: All it took was 90 seconds for weeks of tortured diplomacy to unwind in spectacular fashion.
President Donald Trump’s Oval Office thrashing of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday laid bare the limits of a full-court press by America’s allies aimed at reshaping Trump’s determination to end Russia’s invasion even if the terms are not to Ukraine’s liking.
It also stressed the profound ways Trump feels emboldened to redirect US foreign policy priorities toward his “America First” agenda in ways that extend well beyond those of his tumultuous first term.
The sudden blowup was the most heated public exchange of words between world leaders in the Oval Office in memory, as the usual staid work of diplomacy descended into finger-pointing, shouting and eye-rolling.
The encounter left the future of the US-Ukraine relationship, and Kyiv’s ability to defend itself in the brutal conflict with Russia, in mortal jeopardy.
“You either make a deal or we are out,” Trump told Zelensky, underscoring the American leader’s plans to dictate a swift end to the war or leave its longtime ally to continue the fight without its strongest backer.
Less than a day later, Zelensky used a series of posts on X to express his thanks to the American people, Trump and Congress for “all the support,” which he said Ukrainians “have always appreciated,” especially during the war.
“Our relationship with the American President is more than just two leaders; it’s a historic and solid bond between our peoples. That’s why I always begin with words of gratitude from our nation to the American nation,” he added. Ukrainians want “only strong relations with America, and I really hope we will have them,” he said.
Zelensky was in London to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer before a summit Sunday of European leaders.
Episode capped intense lobbying effort by American allies
The stunning episode in Washington had capped a week of what turned out to be largely futile efforts by US allies to paper over differences between Washington and Kyiv and to try to steer Trump away from his flirtations with Moscow.
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron huddled with Trump to lay the groundwork for an eventual European-led peacekeeping force in Ukraine aimed at deterring future Russian aggression and to encourage the US president to be more skeptical of Vladimir Putin.
But even as Trump and Macron greeted each other with a vise-like grip, the US was splitting with its European allies at the United Nations by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in a series of resolutions marking the third anniversary of the war.
On Thursday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Washington and appealed to Trump for a US “backstop” for European nations who would provide front-line security for Ukraine. He was in essence looking for insurance that, should a peace deal be reached, Russia won’t restart the fighting in the future. Starmer brought flattery and a state visit invitation from King Charles III to soften the ask.
The approach seemed to work, as Trump struck a more conciliatory tone toward Ukraine, calling America’s support for the country against Russia’s invasion “a very worthy thing to do” and disclaiming any memory that he had called the Ukrainian leader a “dictator.”
But Trump also brushed aside Putin’s past broken diplomatic promises, claiming they occurred under different presidents, and saying the Russian leader had never violated a commitment to him. It came as his aides were planning a series of negotiating sessions with Russian officials to lay the groundwork for a potential meeting between Trump and Putin in the coming weeks.
Mineral deal pursued by Trump goes by the wayside, for now
All the while, Trump was focused on securing a financial stake in Ukraine’s critical minerals to recoup the tens of billions the US has given to Kyiv to defend itself. Zelensky, meanwhile, wanted more than Washington’s vague promises that the US would work to preserve its economic interest in Ukraine under the agreement and pushed for more concrete security guarantees.
But Trump would not budge, and US officials repeatedly said Zelensky would not be welcome to meet with the president to discuss Trump’s push for negotiations with Russia until it was signed. After weeks of browbeating, Zelensky’s government on Wednesday formally agreed to the proposal, clearing the path for Friday’s meeting.
It started off cordially enough, as Trump and Zelensky spoke politely, even with admiration, of one of another for the first half-hour of the meeting. Trump even suggested he would continue some military assistance to Ukraine until he could secure an enduring peace deal with Russia.
But when the Ukrainian leader raised alarm about trusting any promises from Putin to end the fighting, Vice President JD Vance rebuked him for airing disagreements with Trump in public. It instantly shifted the tenor of the conversation. Zelensky grew defensive, and Trump and his vice president blasted him as ungrateful and “disrespectful” and issued stark warnings about future American support.
A warning before the meeting ‘not to take the bait’
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a defense hawk and Trump ally, said he had warned Zelensky before the meeting “not to take the bait” in his dealings with Trump, who has repeatedly shown a penchant for throwing criticism but a deep resistance to receiving it.
It was Vance — a longtime critic of American support for Ukraine — who dangled it, when he insisted diplomacy was the only way forward.
“What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about?” Zelensky said, listing Russia’s past violations of ceasefires. “What do you mean?”
“I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country,” Vance responded before tearing into the Ukrainian leader. “Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.”
Trump then let loose, warning the Ukrainian leader, “You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have.”
At another point, Trump declared himself “in the middle,” seeming to formally break from years of American support for Ukraine. He went on to deride Zelensky’s “hatred” for Putin as a roadblock to peace.
“You see the hatred he’s got for Putin,” Trump said. “That’s very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate.”
“It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this,” Trump said to Zelensky as the two leaders talked over each other.
Latest example of major shift in US foreign policy
The episode was just the latest instance of Trump’s brazen moves to shift long-held American policy positions in his first six weeks back in office, portending even more uncertainty ahead for longtime American allies and partners who have already felt pressed to justify their place in Trump’s eyes. It comes just weeks after Trump floated a permanent relocation of Palestinians in Gaza and an American takeover of the territory, and as he has doubled down on plans to put stiff tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada starting next week.
After the Oval Office dustup, Zelensky was asked to leave the White House by top Trump advisers — scrapping plans for a lunch, a joint press conference and the signing of the economic agreement, even as the Ukrainian leader and his aides pushed for a “reset” on the meeting.
Trump later told reporters he didn’t want to “embolden” the Ukrainian leader if he didn’t want “peace” with Russia — flipping what Ukraine had seen as an inducement for security guarantees into a cudgel.
“You can’t embolden somebody who does not have the cards,” Trump said.
After the disastrous encounter, Zelensky appeared on Fox News on Friday evening and told Bret Baier that his public spat with Trump and Vance was “not good for both sides.” But Zelensky said Trump — who insists Putin is ready to end the three-year grinding war — needs to understand that Ukraine can’t change its attitudes toward Russia on a dime.
Zelensky added that Ukraine won’t enter peace talks with Russia until it has security guarantees against another offensive.
“Everybody (is) afraid Putin will come back tomorrow,” Zelensky said. “We want just and lasting peace.”
“It’s so sensitive for our people,” Zelensky said. “And they just want to hear that America (is) on our side, that America will stay with us. Not with Russia, with us. That’s it.”
Zelensky acknowledged that without US support, his country’s position would grow “difficult.”
After repeatedly declining opportunities to apologize to Trump, Zelensky closed his Fox appearance with a sheepish expression of remorse as he struggled with the reality of Trump’s new direction in Washington: “Sorry for this.”
