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Post-Operation Sindoor in May, Pakistan has been shopping all around the world for arms and ammunition which is a matter of concern, while China, too, remains an enduring challenge on the back of its growing assertiveness, a top Indian Navy officer said on Wednesday. Vice-Admiral K Swaminathan, who heads the crucial Western Naval Command headquartered in Mumbai, noted the Chinese Navy has already become the largest in the world and has added fleet to the size of the Indian Navy in just last decade and expanding like never before. He was speaking at a security conference organised by the Bramha Research Foundation. Swaminathan noted that the commissioning of Fujian, the third aircraft carrier of the Chinese Navy, along with the demonstration of fifth and sixth generation fighters, is part of the Communist nation's global strategic narrative and signalling. "China, also worryingly for us, continues to maintain five-eight ships in the Indian Ocean Region," he said. This group ...
China's coast guard accused a Philippine ship of deliberately ramming one of its vessels on Tuesday near Scarborough Shoal, a disputed territory that both countries claim in the South China Sea. A coast guard statement said more than 10 Philippine government ships coming from various directions entered the waters around the shoal, which is called Huangyan island in Chinese. It said it deployed water cannons against the vessels. The encounter came six days after China announced it was designating part of Scarborough Shoal as a national nature reserve. There was no immediate comment from the Philippines. The government in Manila said last week it was filing a diplomatic protest against the designation of a nature reserve at what it calls Bajo de Masinloc. China and the Philippines have clashed repeatedly around outcroppings in the South China Sea, which China claims almost in its entirety. The two countries are among several that have competing claims to territory in the waters, whic