عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Taiwan Says Chinese Ships Entered Waters of Disputed South China Sea Island

A Taiwan Coast Guard boat patrols, as seen from a boat with Chinese tourists, to observe Taiwan's Kinmen Islands, off Xiamen, in China's southeastern Fujian province on May 25, 2026. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)
A Taiwan Coast Guard boat patrols, as seen from a boat with Chinese tourists, to observe Taiwan's Kinmen Islands, off Xiamen, in China's southeastern Fujian province on May 25, 2026. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)
TT
TT

Taiwan Says Chinese Ships Entered Waters of Disputed South China Sea Island

A Taiwan Coast Guard boat patrols, as seen from a boat with Chinese tourists, to observe Taiwan's Kinmen Islands, off Xiamen, in China's southeastern Fujian province on May 25, 2026. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)
A Taiwan Coast Guard boat patrols, as seen from a boat with Chinese tourists, to observe Taiwan's Kinmen Islands, off Xiamen, in China's southeastern Fujian province on May 25, 2026. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)

Taiwan said Chinese ships entered the "prohibited" waters off a disputed island in the South China Sea for the first time on Thursday, condemning escalating "harassment" by Beijing.

The two Chinese vessels "openly intruded" into the waters around the Taiwan-controlled Taiping Island and stayed for 15 minutes before the Taiwanese coast guard expelled them, the force said in a statement.

The island, also known as Itu Aba, is the largest in the Spratly archipelago claimed by Taiwan, China, the Philippines and Vietnam, said AFP.

The Taiwanese coast guard expressed its "strongest condemnation of this incident", saying it "once again maliciously escalates grey-zone harassment in an attempt to create a false impression of jurisdiction".

China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and in recent years has ramped up military pressure on the island democracy.

Beijing also claims most of the South China Sea.

Taiping's "prohibited" waters extend four kilometers (2.5 miles) from shore, Taiwan's coast guard said.

"China is systematically harassing Taiwan," the Ocean Affairs Council, which is responsible for the coast guard, said on X.

The latest in a series of Chinese activities in waters around Taiwan and islands under its control follows an operation to Taiwan's east, which Beijing said was in response to talks between Japan and the Philippines to draw a maritime boundary there.

The Ocean Affairs Council said Thursday's incident "also proves that what China did in the waters east of Taiwan should be dealt with as a challenge to international order; Japan-Philippines talks were just an excuse."

China called the Japan-Philippines talks "illegal" and has claimed exclusive control over the affected waters.

Taiwan has branded the Chinese operation in recent days as "provocative" and "expansionism in disguise".

Taipei has also accused the Chinese ships of "harassment" after they requested information from three passing commercial cargo ships, including their port of destination.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's coast guard said Saturday that a Chinese survey vessel had joined a coast guard ship in waters around Pratas Island in the northern part of the South China Sea.

It was "the first observed instance of Chinese coast guard and survey vessels acting in coordination to provoke Taiwan", the coast guard said.

Taiwan controls Pratas but Beijing also claims the island, along with most of the strategic waterway.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

US Senator Lindsey Graham Dies Age 71

FILE PHOTO: US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks to the media after his meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 10, 2026. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks to the media after his meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 10, 2026. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo
TT
TT

US Senator Lindsey Graham Dies Age 71

FILE PHOTO: US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks to the media after his meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 10, 2026. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks to the media after his meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 10, 2026. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo

Prominent US Senator Lindsey Graham, a key ally of President Donald Trump, died on Saturday aged 71 following a "brief and sudden illness," his office said in a statement on his official X account.

"On the evening of Saturday, July 11, US Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness," the Republican senator from South Carolina's office said, adding that his "family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period."

Graham ⁠was elected to the US Senate in 2002. Before serving in the upper house, he was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1994 for South Carolina's third congressional district, according to his website.

A defense hawk, his website said he had "consistently pushed for outcomes in the ⁠War ⁠on Terror that protect our long-term national security interests."

Graham recently served as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. Graham also served as a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Graham was not married and lived in Seneca, South Carolina.

World

US, UK and 12 Other Nations Reaffirm 2016 Ruling Invalidating China's Claims in South China Sea

FILE - In this image made from video provided by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, a Chinese coast guard ship uses water cannon on a Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah May 4 as it approaches Second Thomas Shoal, locally called Ayungin shoal, at the disputed South China Sea on March 23, 2024. (Armed Forces of the Philippines via AP, File)
FILE - In this image made from video provided by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, a Chinese coast guard ship uses water cannon on a Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah May 4 as it approaches Second Thomas Shoal, locally called Ayungin shoal, at the disputed South China Sea on March 23, 2024. (Armed Forces of the Philippines via AP, File)
TT
TT

US, UK and 12 Other Nations Reaffirm 2016 Ruling Invalidating China's Claims in South China Sea

FILE - In this image made from video provided by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, a Chinese coast guard ship uses water cannon on a Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah May 4 as it approaches Second Thomas Shoal, locally called Ayungin shoal, at the disputed South China Sea on March 23, 2024. (Armed Forces of the Philippines via AP, File)
FILE - In this image made from video provided by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, a Chinese coast guard ship uses water cannon on a Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah May 4 as it approaches Second Thomas Shoal, locally called Ayungin shoal, at the disputed South China Sea on March 23, 2024. (Armed Forces of the Philippines via AP, File)

The United States, United Kingdom and a dozen other Western and Asian countries reasserted on Sunday that China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea are illegal based on a 2016 arbitration ruling.

A joint statement issued by the nations said they rejected “destabilizing” actions in the disputed waters that threaten regional peace.

The announcement commemorated a July 12, 2016, arbitration ruling by a tribunal established in The Hague under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, saying the landmark decision is “a significant milestone and is final, legally binding and definitive.”

China refused to join the arbitration initiated by the Philippines in 2013 after a tense standoff in the contested waters a year earlier that ended with Beijing effectively seizing a disputed shoal.

Beijing rejected the 2016 ruling and continues to defend its claims to virtually the entire sea passage, a key global trade route that has long been feared as one of Asia’ most active flashpoints. The areas has been the scene of repeated territorial standoffs involving China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

“We reaffirm the Arbitral Tribunal’s decision that there is no legal basis for China’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea, including those based on `historic rights,’” the statement said.

The arbitration tribunal largely decided in favor of the Philippines, ruling that under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, “there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources” in the South China Sea outside of its regular territorial areas recognized under the convention.

The convention, largely regarded as the treaty governing the world’s oceans and seas, took effect in 1994 and has been ratified by more than 170 countries and parties, including China and the Philippines.

In addition to the US and Britain, the other countries listed in Sunday's statement included the Philippines, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Italy, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia.

“We reiterate our strong opposition to any destabilizing or unilateral actions including by force or coercion that threaten peace and stability in the region,” The Associated Press quoted them as saying.

The nations stressed “our strong opposition to the use of coast guard, military and maritime militia forces to harass, obstruct, intimidate lawful operations by other states at sea or in the air and in so doing endanger the safety of personnel and fishermen and seriously degrade regional peace and security.”

“Freedom of navigation and overflight as well as other internationally lawful uses of the sea as reflected in UNCLOS” must be upheld, the countries said, adding that the territorial disputes should be resolved peacefully based on the 1982 UN convention.

World

Typhoon Bavi Brings Strong Winds, Rain to China as More Than 2 Million Evacuated

A woman walks past a vehicle knocked over by winds from Typhoon Bavi in Wenling, in China's eastern Zhejiang province on July 12, 2026. (Photo by CN-STR / AFP)
A woman walks past a vehicle knocked over by winds from Typhoon Bavi in Wenling, in China's eastern Zhejiang province on July 12, 2026. (Photo by CN-STR / AFP)
TT
TT

Typhoon Bavi Brings Strong Winds, Rain to China as More Than 2 Million Evacuated

A woman walks past a vehicle knocked over by winds from Typhoon Bavi in Wenling, in China's eastern Zhejiang province on July 12, 2026. (Photo by CN-STR / AFP)
A woman walks past a vehicle knocked over by winds from Typhoon Bavi in Wenling, in China's eastern Zhejiang province on July 12, 2026. (Photo by CN-STR / AFP)

Typhoon Bavi weakened to a severe tropical storm after making landfall in eastern China's Zhejiang province but was still bringing strong winds and heavy rain to eastern China on Sunday.

It weakened early Sunday with maximum sustained winds of around 101 kph (63 mph) near its center, according to China’s national weather center, and is expected to move northwestward across eastern China.

Bavi passed north of Taiwan on Saturday but did not make a direct landfall, The Associated Press reported.

Taiwan’s fire department said at least 134 people across the island were injured as of 7 a.m. Sunday, some sustaining injuries while riding motorcycles or bicycles under strong winds or due to slippery road surfaces.

Strong winds and heavy rain are expected to impact many eastern Chinese cities on Sunday, China’s National Meteorological Center said.

Shanghai evacuated more than 290,000 people from at-risk areas, state media reported. Authorities in Zhejiang evacuated about 2.2 million residents, while Fujian province evacuated over 180,000 people.

Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport and Hongqiao International Airport were expected to cancel around 653 inbound and outbound flights due to Bavi, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

In the coastal city of Yueqing in Zhejiang province, more than 1,300 trees were toppled, including at least 700 uprooted, according to state broadcaster CCTV.