For the past month Chinese aircraft carrier strike groups have been operating further from home shores and in greater strength than ever before, testing state-of-the-art technology and sending a message they are a force to be reckoned with, analysts and officials say. Since early May, a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) flotilla led by the carrier Shandong has conducted exercises north of the Philippines; its newest carrier, the soon-to-be commissioned Fujian, has been on sea trials in disputed waters west of the Korean Peninsula; and its oldest carrier, the Liaoning has led exercises in the Pacific waters of Japan’s exclusive economic zone. During the drills the Fujian for the first time conducted aircraft take-off and landing operations at sea using its advanced electromagnetic catapult system (EMALS), regional defense officials said. That’s a significant development. Only one other carrier in the world has that system – the US Navy’s newest carrier,…

As an unprecedented Israeli attack on Iran last week sparks a spiraling conflict between the two enemy states, China has seen an opportunity to cast itself as potential peace broker – and an alternative voice to the United States. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi took up this mission over the weekend, speaking with both his Iranian and Israeli counterparts in separate phone calls, where Wang decried the attack that sparked latest conflict and telegraphed China’s offer to “play a constructive role” in its resolution. “China explicitly condemns Israel’s violation of Iran’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity … (and) supports Iran in safeguarding its national sovereignty, defending its legitimate rights and interests,” Wang said in a call Saturday with Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, according to Beijing’s official readout. China’s self-described “explicit” opposition to Israel’s attack stands in sharp contrast to the country’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine –…

On a recent evening in Kyiv, 4-year-old Olexander Reshetnik made a simple suggestion to his parents: “Let’s go to the parking garage now so we can sleep properly, and you don’t have to wake us up twice to take us there and back.” The family lives on the 18th floor of a high-rise building and getting into the underground garage that doubles as a bomb shelter during Russian attacks is an uncomfortable experience. With aerial attacks becoming more common, it made sense to Oleksander to simply stay there. Even at his young age, he knew the Russians would likely attack again. His mother Khrystyna Reshetnik said the family has gotten used to seeing drones being shot down in the skies over Ukraine’s capital. In days gone by there would be one or two, maybe three, but things have changed. Russia has ramped up its airborne attacks against Ukraine in recent…

French President Emmanuel Macron is due to land in Greenland Sunday, in a move designed to bolster European support for the Danish territory, which is still batting away advances from the Trump administration to acquire it for the United States. Macron will be the first foreign leader to visit the resource-rich island since US President Donald Trump began his campaign to buy or annex Greenland, which he insists the US needs for national security purposes. A source at the Élysée Palace said that the French president’s trip had a “dimension of European solidarity and one of strengthening sovereignty and territorial integrity,” without mentioning the Trump administration’s threats to purchase Greenland, or take it by force. Additionally, Macron’s visit would focus on Arctic security, climate change and Greenland’s economic development, the source added. During his time on the world’s biggest island the French leader will tour a glacier, a hydroelectric power…