News

Thousands of Tongans visit military-run Peace Ark for free treatment as analyst criticises medical missions as ‘PR events’
Thousands of people in Tonga have sought medical treatment from a Chinese naval hospital ship docked in the capital, as many praised the free services provided by Beijing which come at a time of increasing competition with the in the region.
The military-run vessel staffed with doctors and nurses has spent seven days in the Nuku’alofa. Known as the Peace Ark, the ship has sailed to more than 40 countries since it was commissioned in 2008.Its current tour of the region includes Kiribati, Vanuatu, and Timor-Leste. The US runs similar military medical missions and its ship, Mercy, is due to visit Solomon Islands during the Pacific Games later this year.

The Australian government had agreed to suspend a World Trade Organization barley challenge in exchange for China’s review
The Albanese government will press China to remove , after Beijing’s backdown on barley gave other exporters hope of a further easing of trade tensions.
China’s commerce ministry said it would scrap , a measure that had wiped out trade worth nearly $1bn a year.

China 'stands apart in terms of the threat that its government poses to the United States,' a federal prosecutor warns.

In a widely read book, he detailed gruesome biological experiments on people at a secret Imperial Army site in occupied China before and during World War II.

Prosecutors said the two sailors in California gave Chinese intelligence officers U.S. military secrets and sensitive information.

Forget American meritocracy. China's scary spying system has already invaded the US. That nation's insidious social credit system threatens all of your freedoms.

Defence minister launches first security strategy warning New Zealand faces greatest geostrategic challenges in decades
New Zealand needs to spend more on its military and strengthen ties with countries in the Indo-Pacific to help meet the challenges of great power rivalry and climate change, the government said amid an ongoing defence review.
Launching the country’s first ever national security strategy, defence minister Andrew Little said New Zealand faced more geostrategic challenges than it had in decades.

Jinchao Wei, 22, and Wenheng Zhao, 26, accused in separate cases of ‘violating commitments they made to protect the United States’
Two US navy sailors have been arrested on charges of handing over sensitive national security material to China, US officials said on Thursday.
Jinchao Wei, a 22-year-old sailor assigned to the San Diego-based USS Essex, was arrested on Wednesday on a charge related to espionage involving conspiracy to sending national defense information to Chinese officials. In a separate case, the justice department charged Wenheng Zhao, 26, for allegedly collecting bribes in exchange for giving sensitive US military photos and videos to a Chinese intelligence officer.

The sailor is accused of selling operational plans for a large-scale military exercise, as well as other military secrets.

House lawmakers are digging into the theft of critical technology from Iowa farmers as part of a growing examination of American research stolen by China.

Two U.S. Navy service members are accused of taking bribes to transmit sensitive military information to the Chinese.