DefenceTalkChinese President Xi Jinping warned that relations between Beijing and Taipei were “grim” on Sunday, urging the island’s main opposition party to help seek “unification of the country.” China views self-ruled democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and vows to retake it one day, by force if necessary. Xi has become the most bellicose […]

DefenceTalkChina voiced opposition on Thursday to Taiwan joining a major trans-Pacific trade deal as it flew 24 planes including two nuclear-capable bombers into the self-ruled island’s air defence zone, the biggest incursion in weeks, Taiwanese officials said. Last week Beijing submitted its own application to become a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for […]

DefenceTalkThe strike by a Hellfire missile in Kabul, August 29, which was launched in an effort to kill ISIS-K planners, instead killed 10 civilians, the commander of U.S. Central Command, Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, Jr. said. During a briefing today at the Pentagon, McKenzie outlined the findings of an investigation he directed following […]

DefenceTalkThe United States on Monday completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, ending America’s longest war and closing a chapter in military history likely to be remembered for colossal failures, unfulfilled promises and a frantic final exit that cost the lives of more than 180 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members, some barely older than the war. […]

DefenceTalkVice President Kamala Harris accused China on Tuesday of intimidation in disputed Asian waters, seeking to rally regional allies as the United States’ superpower status takes a hit over Afghanistan. Her comments in Singapore came as Washington seeks to reset relations in Asia after the turbulent Donald Trump era and build a bulwark against the […]

DefenceTalkThe Taliban declared the war in Afghanistan over after taking control of the presidential palace in Kabul while Western nations scrambled on Monday to evacuate their citizens amid chaos at the airport even as a tense calm gripped the capital. President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday as the militants entered the capital virtually […]

DefenceTalkThe United States said Thursday it was sending 3,000 troops to the international airport in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul immediately to evacuate US embassy staff as the Taliban makes rapid gains. “We are further reducing our civilian footprint in Kabul in light of the evolving security situation,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters. “This president […]

DefenceTalkThe failure of Afghan security forces to blunt the advance of the Taliban has left US officials deeply frustrated after spending billions to train and equip the country’s military for two decades. President Joe Biden and other officials have repeatedly called for Afghan leaders to unite and fashion a clear strategy amid mounting worries that […]

DefenceTalkSeoul will face a “serious security crisis” for going ahead with its joint military drills with the United States, a senior Pyongyang official threatened Wednesday, saying the South had missed its opportunity to improve inter-Korean ties. The statement by Kim Yong Chol came just a day after Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader […]

DefenceTalkThe Taliban seized two more Afghan cities Tuesday — including one just 200 kilometres (125 miles) from Kabul — as tens of thousands of people fled their homes in the north for the relative safety of the capital and other centres. But despite the bloodshed, and with eight provincial capitals now toppled in the insurgents’ […]