MANILA, Philippines — Chinese rubber boats moved toward the BRP Sierra Madre, an old World War II LST-542-class tank landing ship, during an encounter at Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal) within the West Philippine Sea. The Philippines said Chinese coast guard personnel approached at close range and injured a Filipino sailor, while Beijing accused Manila of provocative maneuvers. The incident underscores the deepening dispute over control of the shoal, where the Philippines

MANILA — The European Union has escalated its criticism of China, accusing Beijing, alongside Moscow, of trying to reshape the global order and revive a spheres-of-influence model, in language that underscores growing Western alignment on security concerns from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific. Reuters reported that the EU’s new strategic paper describes China as a “key enabler” of Russia’s war in Ukraine and flags Beijing’s increasingly assertive behavior in the South China Sea a