Chinese warships have been moving around Australia’s coastline, coming as close as 200 miles to Sydney. This fleet includes the destroyer CNS Zunyi, the frigate CNS Hengyang, and the replenishment ship CNS Weishanhu.

Taiwan says China violated norms and caused a "high degree of danger" by announcing "live-fire exercises without prior warning" just off its coast.

While Trump's tariffs target the three countries to address trade imbalances, nations with the highest trade surpluses with the U.S. are also seen as at risk of further tariffs. In Asia, China, Vietnam, Japan, and Taiwan have the largest trade surpluses with the U.S., according to a recent U.S. Treasury report.

Taiwan's military continues to struggle with recruiting troops as it looks to new methods to boost troop strength. One such idea is to enlist migrants into the island's armed forces.

China is flexing its military muscle in the region to show that it will not wait for the Trump administration to decide how hard it wants to counter Beijing.

CABI has led a team of scientists who have used DNA barcodes to narrow down the possible sources of introductions of an invasive banana skipper butterfly, with implications as to the threat of it spreading to Africa and tropical America.

In September, Chinese government forces allegedly assaulted Vietnamese fishermen in the contested Paracel Islands, leaving several with broken limbs. This prompted a rare public protest from Hanoi. Beijing said its personnel had been "professional and restrained.

In addition to Vietnam, China's claims overlap with those of the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, while Indonesia has also figured in violent confrontations with the Chinese coast guard and fishing fleets in the waters around the Natuna Islands.

Nationalists on Chinese social media cite the 14th-century voyages of eunuch Admiral Zheng. He is the basis for their claim.