A Chinese Coast Guard vessel monitored near Scarborough Shoal. Photo: Philippine Information Agency / Wikimedia Commons (public domain) Please follow us on Truth Social, X, YouTube, Minds, Telegram, Rumble, GETTR, Gab, Instagram China’s Coast Guard is conducting an unprecedented campaign of maritime coercion in the Philippine Sea. Analysts have confirmed that the Chinese Coast Guard has been stopping and interrogating the crews of nearly 200 commercial vessels in the area. Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) of Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) wrote about this unprecedented maritime coercion by China in its August 2026 issue. The issue was written just in time as the operations started to take place in mid-June this year, shortly after Japan and the Philippines jointly announced that they were going to discuss ways to delimit their overlapping exclusive economic zones (EEZs) in the Philippine Sea, east of Taiwan. Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and the Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in May 2026 upgraded ties between Japan and the Philippines including possible sale of Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s destroyers to the Philippines as well as sharing of classified military information between both sides. Beijing swiftly responded to the two countries’ joint move by deploying large numbers of Coast Guard vessels and survey ships to the Philippine Sea in a series of “unprecedented” operations, according to AMTI. AMTI notes that even within China’s own EEZ, the Coast Guard has no authority to stop and question vessels in this manner. The Philippine Sea is far beyond the limits of any plausible jurisdictional claim by China. The region in which China is conducting these surveys is strategically located near Taiwan, and outside the boundary line being discussed by the Japan-Philippines negotiations. Moreover, the type of data that China is collecting can have dual-use values — while appearing

President Trump addressed reporters aboard Air Force One on the state of Gaza. Photo: Wikimedia Commons / White House Please follow us on Truth Social, X, YouTube, Minds, Telegram, Rumble, GETTR, Gab, Instagram US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Hamas is ready to give up its arms, and the Gaza conflict has largely come to an end. He credited his peace team for one of the biggest diplomatic successes of his second term in office. Speaking to the press on Air Force One, Trump lauded the work of his senior advisors to the peace team, including Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, for negotiating the terms of the Gaza ceasefire into a framework that could potentially be used to bring peace to the region. “Look at Gaza as an example,” the President said. “We got all the hostages back. There’s not a lot of fighting in Gaza. In fact, Hamas is now willing to give up their weapons.” The deal, which is being upheld by the Trump administration, was brokered over the summer and a ceasefire deal was reached. There has been growing attempts by Hamas to govern Gaza with a civil administration and a deal was reached on July 6, 2026 to dissolve it. A subsequent agreement on July 31 reached an agreement between Hamas and other militant groups to disarm in return for reconstruction efforts and an Israeli withdrawal from the area. The Likud party on Sunday said that Netanyahu’s decision to send the IDF into Gaza City and to strike the Hamas leadership in Qatar two years ago — combined with the intense pressure exerted by US President Trump — were what led Hamas to drop its demands for the release of the remaining hostages. “The prime minister’s decision to send the IDF into Gaza City