Navy commander: South China Sea not a U.S.—versus—China battle

The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet’s commander said on Monday he is wary of the situation in the South China Sea being painted as a battle between the U.S. and China, but added the presence of a Chinese missile system on a disputed island will not stop the U.S. military from flying over the region.

U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin’s comments come a week after it was revealed that Beijing had deployed surface—to—air missiles on an island in the fiercely contested region.

The U.S. said the presence of missiles provided increasing evidence of militarization of the area by China.

China subsequently accused the U.S. of militarising the region, saying patrols by U.S. Navy vessels and military aircraft had escalated tensions and raised concerns about stability in the area.

Last month, a U.S. warship deliberately sailed near one of the Beijing—controlled islands in the Paracel chain in a so— called freedom of navigation exercise. China, Taiwan and Vietnam have overlapping claims in the Paracels.

Vice Adm. Aucoin, whose Japan—based fleet covers a region from India to the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean, said the U.S. is not making such manoeuvres to single out any country, and wants all nations that are reclaiming land to stop.

“I wish it wasn’t portrayed as US versus China,” Vice Adm. Aucoin told reporters in Sydney, one of his stops on a visit to Australia to meet with defence officials.

“This shouldn’t seem provocative. What we’re trying to ensure is that all countries, no matter size or strength, can pursue their interests based on the law of the sea and not have that endangered by some of these actions.”

Last week, U.S. and Taiwanese officials confirmed commercial satellite images showed anti—aircraft missiles had been placed on Woody Island in the Paracel chain. China has not denied the appearance of the missiles, but says it is entitled to defend its territory.

Vice Adm. Aucoin said the missiles had provided a “destabilising effect” across the region, and urged China to be transparent about its intentions. Asked whether the presence of the missile system would affect U.S. preparedness to fly over the area, he said no.

“We will fly, sail, operate wherever international law allows, including those areas,” he said.

Vice Adm. Aucoin also expressed concerns about North Korea’s recent nuclear test and rocket launch.

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India aims to regain winning touch; keep series alive

Shocked by an inexperienced Sri Lankan side on a green wicket in the first match, India would aim to regain its winning touch and keep the series alive when they take on the island nation in the second Twenty20 cricket international, in Ranchi on Friday.

Indians were taken aback by what skipper Mahendra Singh had described the Pune track as “English”. Now that Dhoni will be playing in his own backyard before his home fans, he can hope to get a typical sub-continent wicket at a ground, which is hosting its first ever Twenty20 International.

India has not lost a game out of three One-dayers played here and runs in the vicinity of 300 have been scored in three innings. One match against Australia had no result. But largely, a high-scoring game can be expected at JSCA International Stadium Complex.

But there are concerns about under-prepared outfield where the fielders are expected to have a tough time. The JSCA officials have argued that they got less time to prepare the ground and as a result many rough patches can be seen on the bald sand-based outfield.

Sri Lanka, with many inexperienced players in the side, have nothing to lose and will go all out to seal the series.

However, the job is easier said than done since the Indian batsmen are in good form and will be difficult to contain on a batting track.

The Sri Lankan pace trio of — Kasun Rajitha, Dushmantha Chameera and Dasun Shanaka — made a good impression on a lively track but they will be tested in Ranchi.

In Australia, where India won 3-0, the Indian middle and lower order hardly got a chance to bat, courtesy supreme form of the top-order batsmen. But the collapse in Pune, where batsmen did not respect the conditions and went for unmindful strokes on a seaming track, brought all batsmen to the crease.

R Ashwin showed that by being little patient, India could have posted at least a fighting if not a defendable total on the board.

With World Twenty20 round the corner, Dhoni would want his batsmen to respond to the conditions mindfully whether in India or in Asia Cup, preceding the big event, where they will enter as favourites.

And more than anything, Dhoni’s own form is something which would be playing in his mind. The remaining two matches in this series and the subsequent Asia Cup is where he can get his mojo back before the World Twenty20.

His image as one of the best finishers of the game has taken a beating with repeated failures and for setting things right, his home ground is an ideal platform.

It will be good for India if Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuvraj Singh and Hardik Pandya get more overs under their belt before the World Cup.

Dhoni would also like to give pacers Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah more opportunities and it will be interesting to see if Bhuvneshwar Kumar gets a game. With Ashwin doing a reasonably good job, Harbhajan Singh may have to sit out again.

T20 is a format where even small nations can topple established cricket forces since one or two good overs — in either bowling or batting — can change the match situation quickly. And that makes it interesting to watch.

Teams From:

India: M.S. Dhoni (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Pawan Negi, Ashish Nehra, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harbhajan Singh.

Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (Captain), Dushmantha Chameera, Niroshan Dickwella, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Binura Fernando, Dilhara Fernando, Asela Gunaratne, Danushka Gunathilaka, Chamara Kapugedera, Thisara Perera, Seekkuge Prasanna, Kasun Rajitha, Sachithra Senanayake, Dasun Shanaka, Milinda Siriwardana, Jeffrey Vandersay.

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Malaysian Airlines plane flies in wrong direction over sea

Beleaguered Malaysian Airlines has launched a probe after one of its planes flew in the wrong direction towards Melbourne rather than Kuala Lumpur for eight minutes during a Christmas Day flight from New Zealand.

The Flight MH132 from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur took off at 2:23 am on Christmas Day but flew south over the Tasman Sea rather than taking a more direct ‘north-west’ route to the Malaysian capital, radar data showed.

Just eight minutes into the flight, the pilot questioned the Airbus A330’s path with air traffic control when he became concerned that the flight was heading towards Melbourne, Australia and not towards its intended destination.

The pilot then turned north-west but passengers on board the flight were not made aware of the pilot’s discussions with air traffic controllers.

Airways, which manages air traffic control for New Zealand, said there were no safety concerns but it would investigate why the normal flight path had been changed.

“We have an internal safety team who will investigate it.

The flight plan the airline filed with us was going to Kuala Lumpur but via a slightly different route than the pilot was expecting,” a spokesperson told the New Zealand Herald.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Airlines today said the pilot of MH132 was given the latest flight plan by the airline’s Operations Dispatch Centre while Auckland’s Air Traffic Control was inadvertently given an earlier flight plan.

“Both routes were following an approved flight path and the aircraft had enough fuel for both routes. The safety of both passengers and crew were never compromised at any time,” it said.

The airline, which said it was investigating the matter, explained that flight plans were generated based on conditions at the time, covering issues such as weather, air traffic notices and route efficiency.

As many as 577 crew and passengers had lost their lives on two separate Malaysia Airlines flights last year.

Flight MH370 disappeared between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing for unknown reasons in March and MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made missile over Ukraine in July.

The airlines had suffered heavy financial losses in both the disasters.

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