Amid repeated air incursions close to Taiwan, and reports that China has tested hypersonic weapons, the world is paying closer attention to the modernisation of China’s armed forces and its pursuit of ever more sophisticated weaponry.Once hailed by the Communist Party as having defeated past adversaries with only “millet plus rifles”, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has now grown into the world’s largest fighting force, with more than two million active personnel.Under President Xi Jinping

Do the United States (US) and China have an agreement on Taiwan’s political status?The question was raised on Tuesday when US President Joe Biden told reporters that he and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, had agreed to “abide by the Taiwan agreement”, leaving many around the world scratching their heads.Biden made the remark at the White House in response to a reporter’s question about rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait, with Beijing sending more than 150 military planes towards Taiwan

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday warned the United States (US) against aggressively challenging China, saying Washington's increasingly hard-line views could be "very dangerous."He said the US had moved from an approach of healthy competition with China to the view that America "must win, one way or another.""There is (US) bipartisan consensus today on one thing, which is relations with China," he told the Aspen Security Forum."But th

The tank traps on the beaches of Kinmen Island are a stark reminder that Taiwan lives under the constant threat of a Chinese invasion – and fears of a conflict breaking out are now at their highest in decades.Democratic Taiwan has learned to live with the warnings of Beijing's authoritarian leaders that they are ready and willing to seize a place it views as part of its territory.But that background static has reached hard-to-ignore levels recently with China's jets now crossing int

Observers of United States (US)-China relations increasingly talk of a new cold war. On top of a long-running trade war, the two countries now find themselves in a destructive cycle of mutual sanctions, consulate closings, and increasingly bellicose official speeches. Efforts to decouple the US economy from China’s are underway as tensions mount in both, the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. A cold war between the US and China would leave both countries and the world worse off.

Beijing warned Friday that the United States (US) should not underestimate China's military as the top defence officials from both countries met on the side-lines of a security forum.As Beijing and Washington vie for influence in a region hosting potential flashpoints such as the South China Sea, Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait, acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan met Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe for 20 minutes Friday.Chinese defence ministry spokesman Wu Q