Li Shangfu, who was named to his position in March, was speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue here. The event, organized by the International Institute of Strategic Studies – Asia, takes place annually on the first weekend of June.

During the question-and-answer session after his speech, Li was asked about the new report and video of a People’s Liberation Army Navy warship cutting across the bow of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Chung-hoon.

The footage was shot by a Canadian news crew who witnessed the event from a Canadian frigate accompanying the American destroyer as they transited through international waters along the Taiwan Strait on June 3

The maneuver was described at the dialogue by Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the Indo-Pacific Program at the German Marshall Fund, as “in contravention of the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.”

However, Li said that the Canadian-U.S. voyage cannot be considered “innocent passage,” but was instead provocation. He questioned why foreign jets and naval vessels were operating so close to China and said foreign militaries should “mind your own business” closer to home.

The encounter at sea came eight days after the U.S. Department of Defense released video of a Chinese J-16 multirole fighter conducting what DoD called an “unprofessional” intercept of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea by cutting across the latter’s flightpath.

The maneuver is known as “thumping,” in reference to the interceptor using its jetwash to temporarily disrupt the flight of the aircraft being intercepted with its wake turbulence.

Li declined to directly answer questions from delegates about the performance of the Russian military and equipment during the invasion of Ukraine, saying his recent focus has been on military diplomacy and that he has not been following the conflict from a combat standpoint.

Li used his speech to highlight China’s contributions to global security, such as its sending of peacekeepers to seven different conflict zones under the auspices of the United Nations and 139 naval vessels in 44 separate deployments for anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden.

He also commented on Taiwan issue, reiterating that the matter is an internal Chinese affair and accusing Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party of undermining regional stability by pushing for “incremental independence.”

Li criticized “some big power,” a reference to the United States, for repeatedly selling arms and providing military training assistance to the self-ruling island. He said China will not rule out using force to reunify Taiwan with the mainland.

Lloyd Austin was speaking at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security summit here. The event convenes defense ministers from the Indo-Pacific and around the world to discuss and enhance security in the region and is organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies – Asia or IISS-Asia.

“The United States believes that open lines of communication with the People’s Republic of China are essential, especially between our defense and military leaders,” Austin said.

He added that dialogue between both nations is an important guardrail to preserve regional peace and stability, particularly in the Taiwan Strait, and will help to avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations that may lead to crisis or conflict.

“The right time to talk is now,” Austin added.

Chinese defense and military officials have stopped contacts and engagements with their American counterparts, culminating in a refusal by Chinese defense minister Li Shengfu to meet with Austin while they are both in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue.

“A cordial handshake over dinner is no substitute for substantive engagement,” Austin said, referring to the lack of a formal bilateral dinner despite him shaking hands with Li prior to the dialogue’s opening dinner and keynote speech on Friday.

Asked about accusations that the U.S. is trying to provoke China into invading Taiwan, Austin denied the charge.

He had said earlier in his speech “the United States remain deeply committed to preserving the status quo in the [Taiwan] strait, consistent with our one-China policy and fulfilling our well-established obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act.”

“We do not seek conflict or confrontation, but we will not flinch in the face of bullying and coercion,” Austin added.

U.S. engagement with regional allies and partners was also a key focus for Austin, as he highlighted recent DoD efforts to expand its interactions with militaries in the Indo-Pacific.

This included the April announcement that the U.S. military will expand its footprint in the Philippines under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Arrangement, which will see four of the US ally’s facilities upgraded and made available to US forces.

Austin also touched on the upcoming Talisman Sabre exercise in Australia, which will take place this summer. This year’s iteration will involve 14 countries and approximately 30,000 personnel, including a “significant contingent” from Japan.

The exercise has scaled up significantly in recent years; it was until recently primarily a bilateral event involving Australia and the U.S.

Austin praised recent moves by Japan and South Korea to improve ties. The U.S. allies have recently taken steps to thaw frosty relations dating back to Japan’s occupation of the Korean Peninsula that only ended with its surrender following World War II.

The Northrop Grumman-made high-altitude, long-endurance UAV was sighted at Changi Air Base (East) on multiple occasions from January onward, and Defense News has obtained a photograph of it being towed at the base.

The image was taken from a commercial airliner during takeoff in late February from Singapore’s Changi International Airport, which shares a runway with the base.

This is the first known operational deployment of the Global Hawk to Singapore, although it has previously visited the island nation for air shows in 2018 and 2022.

Singapore’s Defence Ministry confirmed in a statement to Defense News that the country “facilitated the short-term deployment of an RQ-4 Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, as part of the 1990 Memorandum of Understanding Regarding United States Use of Facilities in Singapore.”

The ministry provided no further details of the deployment, and the U.S. Air Force referred questions about the deployment to Pacific Air Forces, an American command in the region. Neither Pacific Air Forces nor the U.S. Embassy in Singapore has responded to questions about the deployment.

However, sources in Singapore have told Defense News the unmanned aircraft arrived in January and was still operating from the island in early March, and that it has flown missions almost exclusively at night during the deployment.

The Global Hawk’s long endurance, which the U.S. Air Force says is in excess of 34 hours, means it can take off at night and stay in the air during daylight hours before landing again the next evening.

The deployment also coincided with the presence of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Nimitz and the amphibious assault ship Makin Island — as well as and their respective strike groups — in the South China Sea. Both of those ships and several of their escorting vessels visited Singapore’s Changi Naval Base during this period.

In addition to hosting a U.S. Navy logistics facility, Singapore is a security partner of the United States. A 1990 memorandum signed by both countries — and renewed in 2019 — allows American forces to access Singapore’s air and naval bases on a rotational basis. This has seen the southeast Asian nation host rotational deployments of U.S. Navy littoral combat ships and P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.

Singapore has separate agreements for its Air Force jet and helicopter detachments to train in the continental United States and conduct rotational air combat training in Guam.

Stephen Losey in Washington contributed to this report.

The imagery of the Yulin naval base on the southern tip of China’s Hainan Island taken by Maxar Technologies on July 31 and published on Google Earth shows the structure for two new piers under construction, adding to the four existing piers at the site.

The new piers are being built to the north and south of the existing piers, connected to what appears to be newly reclaimed land. A dredger is seen on the satellite imagery adjacent to the new northern pier.

This measures 573 feet long and 67 feet wide, according to Google Earth’s measuring tool, while the southern pier measures 780 feet long and is of a similar width to its northern counterpart.

Neither the reclaimed land nor pier structures were seen in previous satellite images of the base; the next most recent in Google Earth was an image taken in February 2022.

The base is part of a large naval complex housing the South Sea Fleet of China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy, which is equipped with nuclear-powered attack and ballistic missile submarines. These includes six Type 094, or Jin-class, nuclear-powered ballistic missile subs, three of which are seen berthed on Maxar’s image of the base. A smaller submarine, measuring 107 meters (351 feet), which means it could be a Type 093, or Shang-class, nuclear-powered attack sub, can also be seen on an adjacent pier in the image.

Yulin has a submarine cavern tunneled into the side of a mountain.

In addition to the submarine piers under construction, the base has seen the assembly of a pier for large surface ships, including China’s aircraft carriers. This has allowed the PLAN to homeport China’s second carrier, the Shandong, at Yulin.

A new dry dock to accommodate an aircraft carrier and a surface combatant is also being built, while a helicopter base at the nearby city of Sanya has received a refurbishment with new hangars, an expanded parking apron and resurfaced runways.

The South Sea Fleet is where most of the PLAN’s rapidly growing amphibious assault fleet, including the first Type 075 helicopter carrier and most of its Type 071 landing platform docks, are assigned. These ships, which are designed to transport troops via landing craft or helicopters, would be a vital component of any Chinese invasion of Taiwan, which Beijing considers a rogue province and has threatened to take back by force, if necessary.

Speaking to media during a visit to RAAF Base Tindal near Katherine, detachment commander Squadron Leader Adam Paull of 2 Squadron, which operates the Australian E-7As, said that the aircraft flew alternately in support of both blue and red air missions at the exercise, as well as performing overall airspace control and management at Exercise Pitch Black. The blue and red color designations are military jargon for simulated friendly and adversary factions, respectively.

Also attending the media session was Air Battle Manager Maj. Christopher Dunn of the United States Air Force and Flight Lieutenant Sophie Gale of the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force.

Both the U.S. and British air forces have ongoing acquisition programs to buy the E-7A, which is based on a commercial Boeing 737 airliner and is fitted with a Northrop Grumman multi-role electronically scanned array radar on a fairing on top of its fuselage.

Dunn said his transition to the E-7A from the current Boeing E-3 Sentrys was relatively seamless due to the relatively similarity in user interfaces on both platforms, with the key difference being the smaller number of operator consoles on the E-7A.

The the main benefits of the new plane type were the modern, electronically scanned array radar and communications suite and the improved reliability of the newer airframe, he explained.

Dunn is on a three-year tour with the Australian air service, which is expected to end in 2024 or 2025, an experience he expects to apply to the envisioned U.S. Air Force E-7A fleet. He told Defense News that there are currently three U.S. personnel embedded with 2 Sqn, including a U.S. Navy operator trained on E-2D Hawkeye carrier-borne aircraft.

He also expects the embedding of U.S. military personnel to 2 Sqn to ramp up in the coming months, as the U.S. Air Force seeks to build up a cadre of operators in the lead up to the service receiving its first aircraft in 2027.

The Royal Air Force’s Gale, who is an asset manager for the mission computing system and an engineer officer trained on helicopters, said that her service’s embedding of personnel here was not just to train operationally but also to help the UK’s E-7A project office make informed decisions about acquisition and sustainment contracts.

The RAF has around 40 maintainers, technicians, and aircrew embedded with 2 Sqn, which is normally based at Williamtown, north of Australia’s largest city Sydney on the country’s southeast coast.

Paull said the advantage of bringing over personnel from different backgrounds and trained on vastly different platforms into their own program enabled the sharing of fresh perspectives and ideas into their own systems.

During the Pitch Black exercise, which runs from Aug. 19 to Sept. 8 and involves aircraft from 10 countries, the Australian E-7A took turns flying missions alongside a Gulfstream G550 aircraft of the Republic of Singapore Air Force.

Paull told reporters that the aircraft also flew missions in support of a separate training exercise in northern Australia involving U.S. Air Force F-22A Raptor and Australian F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters.

The American Raptors, which are assigned to 15th Wing at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam in Hawaii, are in Australia as part of the Enhanced Air Cooperation (EAC) program between Australia and the United States.

The 12 F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing aircraft were practicing the Corps’ concept known as “Expeditionary Advanced Basing Operations” at RAAF Base Curtin, according to Lt. Col. Richard Behrmann, an operations officer at Marine Aircraft Group 12 based in Iwakuni, Japan.

The F-35Bs have been deployed to RAAF Base Tindal, 600 miles away from Curtin, since mid-August for “robust” unit-level training ahead of Pitch Black, a military exercise involving more than 2,500 personnel and aircraft from 10 nations.

Behrmann told Defense News on Friday that the EABO training in Australia was a culmination of several MAG-12 events meant to refine the concept. One of those events included using Tindal as a hub and Curtin as a spoke in order to mirror EABO’s hub-and-spoke model, with the officer calling it the unit’s most “robust and in-depth” exercise of the concept.

EABO envisages the Marines being able to deploy mobile, easily sustainable expeditionary forces to austere, temporary locations in or near contested areas to conduct missions such as sea denial or sea control.

RAAF Base Curtin, which locals call a front-line “bare base,” has a 10,000-foot runway, aircraft shelters and other infrastructure, which are normally crewed and maintained by a small caretaker staff, unless activated for use during exercises or a crisis.

The 12 F-35Bs from Marine Fighter Attack squadrons 121 and 242 are also Down Under to drill with other MAG-12 subordinate units — Marine Wing Support Squadron 171 and Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 12.

A pair of Japan-based Marine Corps KC-130J Super Hercules tankers, which also performed transport tasks and rapid ground refueling, supported the F-35Bs during the EABO training.

The U.S. air and ground elements that deployed to Australia included some 150 fighter squadron personnel and 60 members from support units who mirrored the Marine Corps’ air-ground task force concept, which seeks to provide multidomain capabilities

Behrmann also said the F-35s deployed to Australia with the Autonomic Logistics Information System, which is used for predictive maintenance of the aircraft. He noted that Marines used a very small aperture terminal — essentially a ground station with a satellite dish — to transmit data for ALIS.

MAG-12 also put into place a so-called PACE plan — primary, alternate, contingency and emergency — that allowed the force to transmit data and voice communications between Iwakuni, Tindal and Curtin using high-frequency radio during the EABO exercise.

Behrmann noted that out of the F-35Bs and other supporting platforms, only one aircraft dropped out of an assigned sortie during the preceding three weeks of the deployment.

During Pitch Black, which runs Aug. 19-Sept. 8, American F-35Bs and Australian F-35As flew air-to-air and air-to-ground missions during the day and night as part of large-force employment operations with a variety of aircraft from other partner nations, including F-15, F-16 and Su-30 fighters.

Behrmann said these exercises enhance interoperability and integration capabilities with allied and partner nations in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond, adding that a large airspace was set aside for the drills.

The Marine Corps’ F-35Bs took part in midair refueling with multirole tanker/transport aircraft from Australia, Singapore and the United Kingdom. And the Corps’ KC-130J tankers refueled British Eurofighter Typhoon fighters.

This year’s Pitch Black has also served as an opportunity for partner nations to observe the F-35B up close and in action, with the Marine Corps hosting delegations from partner nations, including one from Singapore’s next-generation fighter project office.

Singapore has selected the F-35B as its next-gen fighter, and the U.S. State Department has already cleared the sale for an initial four aircraft with an option to buy eight more. Initial deliveries are expected to begin in 2026.

A Royal Australian Air Force website said Pitch Black involves 17 nations: Australia, France, Germany, Indonesia, India, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, the U.K., the Philippines, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, the Netherlands, Malaysia, New Zealand and the U.S.

Speaking during an unprecedented address delivered via video link at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, Zelenskyy said the world must push for diplomatic solutions to support countries that are in need of help.

“We must not leave them behind at the mercy of another country which is more powerful in financial terms, in territorial terms and in terms of equipment,” he said in response to a question about what Taiwan can do in the face of military and political pressure from China. “No one benefits from [open conflict}, apart from certain political leaders, who are not content with the present level of their ambitions. Therefore, they keep growing their appetites and their ambitions.”

Zelenskyy also spoke of the importance of international law for smaller states, quoting the words of Singapore’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew: “If there had been no international law, and the big fish ate the small fish and the small fish ate shrimps, we would not have existed.”

Zelenskyy cited the late leader while accusing the Russian leadership under President Vladimir Putin of striving to dismantle international law by invading Ukraine. The Kremlin seeks to make it “impossible for a neighboring country, which it regards solely as its colony, to be able to exist freely and independently,” he said.

He charged Russians with systematically looting the resources of occupied Ukrainian territory by stripping it of everything from industrial machinery to crops and cars, and he blamed global food insecurity on Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea.

The blockade has left Ukraine unable to export its grain harvest, and Zelenskyy warned the world will potentially face an acute food crisis and famine in many Asian and African countries, possibly leading to political chaos.

Four landing ship tanks, including one with its deck full of military trucks, were seen sailing in the Pacific Ocean westbound in the middle of last week, according to a news release from the Joint Staff’s Public Affairs office within Japan’s Defense Ministry.

The hull numbers on the Russian ships, shown in photographs released by Japan, suggests the ships were the Alligator IV-class Nikolay Vilkov; the Ropucha I-class Oslyabya and Admiral Nevelskov; and the Ropucha II-class Peresvet. All four belong to the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet and make up the entirety of its major amphibious units.

The ships were traveling in two groups. One was comprised of Nikolay Vilkov and Oslyabya, first seen heading west in the evening of March 15, 70 kilometers (38 nautical miles) northeast of Cape Shiryazaki on the northern tip of Japan’s main island of Honshu.

Photos released by the ministry showed the top deck of the Nikolay Vilkov packed with at least 17 military trucks. All four ships also have internal holds capable of carrying various cargo or troops.

The Admiral Nevelskov and Peresvet were then detected by Japan on the morning of March 16, 220 kilometers northeast of Cape Shiryazaki.

The ships then proceeded through the narrow Tsugaru Strait, which separates Honshu from Japan’s northern main island of Hokkaido. The vessels were watched from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s destroyer JS Shiranui and P-3C maritime patrol aircraft.

Japanese media reported the ministry believes the ships were bringing additional units from Russia’s far east to shore up its forces involved in the invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Defence Ministry backed up this claim, saying March 18 that the Russian 155th Separate Naval Infantry Brigade, based in the port city of Vladivostok, and the 40th Separate Naval Infantry Brigade, out of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, were heading west to “make up for the losses” suffered in Ukraine.

Both naval infantry units are assigned to the Russian military’s Eastern Military District.

The route taken by the Russian ships appears to suggest they were heading from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Russia’s Kamchakta Peninsula to Vladivostok, where they will most likely be loaded onto westbound trains if they are indeed bound for Ukraine.

Japan has designated the Tsugaru Strait an international waterway, allowing foreign ships to transit through it. The country claims territorial waters in the strait that extend 3 nautical miles from its coast, significantly less than the maximum of 12 nautical miles allowed under international law.

A pair of U.S. Air Force F-35As and a single KC-46A are on static display at the biennial airshow, which runs Feb. 15-18 at Singapore’s Changi Exhibition Centre.

The F-35As are from the 355th Fighter Squadron out of Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, which started receiving the Lockheed Martin-made fifth-generation fighter jet in April 2020. This is the first time the conventional-takeoff-and-landing variant has appeared at the Singapore Airshow.

According to 1st Lt. Rachel Self, the F-35As flew into the show with the KC-46A from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, where the fighter jets were taking part in Exercise Cope North with aircraft and personnel from Japan and Australia.

Self, whose call sign is “Savior”, told Defense News that the jets refueled four times from the KC-46A during the seven-hour trip from Guam to Singapore.

The KC-46A was from the 916th Air Refueling Wing out of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. Flight tracking websites showed the tanker arrived in Singapore via Guam and Hawaii.

Col. Brian McClanahan, the air boss of the Defense Department’s contingent at the air show, said the presence of U.S. military aircraft and the contingent at the show are meant to serve as an opportunity to meet with Indo-Pacific partners and interact with the industry members.

Major events such as air and trade shows ground to a halt in the region since the last Singapore Airshow in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The KC-46A and F-35As join several other U.S. military aircraft at the show, including a U.S. Navy Boeing P-8A Poseidon multimission aircraft on static display. Meanwhile, a Japan-based U.S. Marine Corps F-35B was put through its paces in a flying display.

This is the second time the F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing variant of the Joint Strike Fighter has appeared at the Singapore Airshow, having made its debut at the 2020 iteration. The Republic of Singapore Air Force has the type on order.

A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress, made by Boeing, also flew in an aerial display, having made the journey from Guam where it’s on a rotational deployment. Four bombers from the 96th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, had arrived on the U.S. territory between Feb. 8 and 10.

On Saturday, the Japanese Coast Guard issued a navigation warning indicating that a salvage operation was going on in a northern portion of the South China Sea, roughly 185 miles west of the Philippines and 350 miles east of Woody Island in the Paracels, a group of man-made islands on which Beijing has built an airbase and other military infrastructure.

Officials for U.S. 7th Fleet declined to comment Monday or confirm whether the alert was connected to salvaging the jet.

The command said the Navy is “making recovery operations arrangements” to recover the jet, which crashed into the deck of the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson on Jan. 24 and then fell into the water, injuring the pilot and six sailors in the process.

The pilot ejected before the jet fell into the sea, but the pilot and two other sailors were evacuated to the Philippines for medical care.

Officials said last week that all seven sailors were stable.

The Japan Coast Guard’s Hydrological and Oceanographic Department, or JHOD, is the area coordinator for “NAVAREA XI,” a maritime geographic area demarcated by the International Maritime Organization.

Saturday’s warning notes that salvage operations will be going on there “until further notice.”

JHOD told Defense News that the water depth at the location is about 11,800 feet, according to surveys.

Such a navigational warning contains information for boaters about changes to navigational aids and current marine activities or hazards such as defects, dredging, or fishing zones.

The F-35 mishap was the fifth major aviation mishap to the Vinson’s carrier strike group in the past two months.

Losing the Navy’s newest and most high-tech fighter jet in the contentious waters of the South China Sea is considered a non-starter given the Chinese government’s interest in its American adversary’s military technology.

In March, the Navy recovered an MH-60S helicopter that crashed into the Philippine Sea in January 2020, raising the wreckage from a depth of more than 3.6 miles, which was a new recovery record at the time of the operation.

A video and photos of the jet just before its crash and as it bobbed in the water leaked online late last week, and 7th Fleet confirmed their authenticity.