China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the two countries should “do things that are conducive to regional peace and stability, instead of flexing their muscles.”
Six Pacific island nations give diplomatic recognition to Taiwan but they're under intensifying pressure from Beijing to switch allegiances as it builds influence in the region.
Beijing's first aircraft carrier will take part in a naval review Tuesday marking the People's Republic navy's 70th anniversary, joined by latest-generation nuclear submarines, destroyers and fighter jets.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson, who is visiting Australia for talks on regional security and the Indo-Pacific region, described the base redevelopment as a "terrific opportunity."
Marise Payne told an Australian Institute of International Affairs conference that Australia needed to defend its interests in "a period of strategic uncertainty."
Lawrence Reilly Sr. barely survived the 1969 collision that sent half of the USS Frank E. Evans to the bottom of the South China Sea with his namesake son and 73 other shipmates trapped inside. The father spent the last years of his life unsuccessfully trying to convince the Pentagon to add those 74 names to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
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