The Latest Breaking News from the South China Sea

Germany’s top diplomat says China’s actions in the South China Sea violate the rights of Asian coastal states like the Philippines and threaten freedom of navigation, but adds that the territorial disputes have to be resolved peacefully because “the world doesn’t need another crisis.”

Warning in talks between Chinese and US military officials comes days before self-ruled island holds elections.

In recent weeks, China’s activities in the South China Sea have raised more concerns in the region. Its ships have collided with Filipino vessels, fired water cannon at others and used sonar pulses close to an Australian ship, injuring its divers.

Southeast Asian and Japanese leaders will agree to boost "maritime security cooperation", according to a draft statement seen by AFP from a summit that kicked off Saturday against the backdrop of growing tensions in the South China Sea.

China's President Xi Jinping arrived in Vietnam Tuesday for his first visit in six years, as he seeks to counter the United States' growing influence with the communist nation.

Forty fishing boats loaded with donations, Father Christmas figurines and nativity had set sail in disputed South China Sea

The Philippines and its treaty ally, the United States, have separately condemned a high-seas assault by the Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships that repeatedly blasted water cannons to block three Philippine fisheries vessels from a disputed shoal in the South China Sea

China says that the United States has undermined ‘regional peace and stability’.

The Chinese military said that an American naval ship had “illegally intruded” on Monday into waters near the Second Thomas Shoal, the site of a hot territorial dispute between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea