Submitted by: M Mulukin
US and China deploy aircraft carriers in South China Sea as tensions simmer.
13 April 2021
Hong Kong Military activity in the South China Sea spiked over the weekend as a Chinese aircraft carrier entered the region and a US Navy expeditionary strike group wrapped up exercises.
Meanwhile, the US and Philippines were preparing for joint drills as the US secretary of defence proposed ways to deepen military cooperation between Washington and Manila after China massed vessels in disputed waters.
China's state-run Global Times on Sunday said the country's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, steamed into the South China Sea on Saturday after completing a week of naval exercises around Taiwan. There was no official announcement of the Liaoning's position, but the Chinese tabloid cited satellite images first reported by US media outlet The War Zone.
US Navy Cmdr. Robert Briggs and Cmdr.
Richard Slye monitor the Chinese aircraft
carrier Liaoning from the pilothouse of the
guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin.
The Liaoning's reported arrival in the South China Sea came after a US Navy expeditionary strike group, fronted by the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island, conducted exercises in the South China Sea a day earlier. The two flat-top warships were joined by a cruiser, destroyers and smaller amphibious ships.
The ships also carried hundreds of Marine ground forces from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit as well as their supporting helicopters and F-35 fighter jets.
Taiwan reports largest incursion yet by Chinese air force.
13 April 2021
TAIPEI -Twenty-five Chinese air force aircraft including fighters and nuclear-capable bombers entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on Monday, the island’s government said, the largest reported incursion to date.
While there was no immediate comment from Beijing, the news comes after the U.S. State Department on Friday issued new guidelines that will enable U.S. officials to meet more freely with Taiwanese officials, further deepening ties with Taipei.
Chinese-claimed Taiwan has complained over the last few months of repeated missions by China’s air force near the self-ruled island, concentrated in the south-western part of its air defence zone near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands.
The latest Chinese mission involved 14 J-16 and four J-10 fighters, as well as four H-6K bombers, which can carry nuclear weapons, two anti-submarine aircraft and an early warning aircraft, Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said.
It was the largest daily incursion since the ministry began regularly reporting Chinese Air Force activities in Taiwan’s ADIZ last year.
Ukraine's President heads to the trenches as Russia masses its troops .
13 April 2021
It feels more like the early 20th century than a modern conflict, with tired, nervous soldiers gripping their rifles around him as they reach open ground, scanning the area for movement across no-mans-land. They know snipers, likely trained by Russians, say that Ukrainian officials are looking for a chance to fire. More than 20 of their comrades have been gunned down already this year.
It's eerily quiet with an occasional crack of a gunshot in the distance shattering the calm, keeping everybody on edge.
President Volodymyr Zelensky [pictured above centre] walked the front lines with the troops.
This area near Mariupol is a risky place for the President of a country to visit, but that doesn't stop Zelensky who granted media unprecedented access to his trip to the front lines, where he insists on going to the most forward positions.
"If I visit a military base, the guys at the very front will hear about it and think I forgot about them," Zelensky said in exclusive comments to media over two days. "They need to know they have political support."
Zelensky, strapped into a camouflage flak jacket and helmet, had to sprint across the open ground with his presidential security to reach some trench cover. With Russian troops massing on their side of the border with Ukraine, the US and its NATO allies declared political and military backing for Ukraine. Zelensky urged them to bolster their support.
Russia is 'one step from war' with Ukraine, state TV has warned in the latest bout of sabre-rattling between Moscow and Kiev that has jangled nerves across Europe.
Dmitry Kiselyov, a Russian news anchor who has been called a 'Putin propagandist' in the past, issued the warning during a primetime broadcast in Russia on Sunday. He branded Ukraine a 'Nazi' state, saying that Russia may be forced to 'de-Nazify' it by force - a process he said would bring about its 'economic and military collapse'.
Russia is now thought to have massed more than 80,000 troops along Ukraine's eastern border, including tanks, artillery pieces, armoured transports and support vehicles - raising fears of an invasion. Ukrainian presidential spokesman Iuliia Mendel said today that 40,000 troops are now stationed in Crimea with another 40,000 near the Donbass region where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting government forces for years.
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