Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told President Barack Obama he’ll consider sending the country’s maritime forces to back up U.S. operations in the South China Sea. Japan and the U.S. have occasionally conducted joint exercises, but never in such close proximity to features claimed by China. Source: Bloomberg
The Turkish president has announced a fresh offensive against Kurdish fighters in Syria is just around the corner. But the US has warned that such action would harm efforts to destroy the “Islamic State” in the region. Source: Deutsche Welle
Canadian businessman Michael Spavor, who worked with North Korea, is being investigated on suspicion of harming China’s security, China said on Thursday, days after a former Canadian diplomat was detained in an escalating diplomatic row. Source: Reuters
The sea phase of the bilateral Russian-Indian maritime exercise Indra Navy-2018, which involves Russia’s Pacific Fleet ships, starts in the Bay of Bengal today near the Indian port of Visakhapatnam, the Pacific Fleet press service reported on Thursday. Source: TASS
