TWO US Navy destroyers have pushed through the narrow, tense waterway separating Taiwan and China in a clear new signal opposing Beijing’s expansionist claims.

US PRESIDENT-elect Donald Trump has taken a veiled swipe at China just days after he controversially took a phone call from Taiwan’s leader, raising eyebrows across the world.

China's foreign minister has warned South Korea against deploying American THAAD missile defense complexes, saying it would harm the “foundation of mutual trust.” Beijing holds the US responsible for upsetting the strategic balance in the region.

As the Hague Tribunal rejected China’s claims to “historic rights” in the South China Sea, Beijing announced the commissioning of its fourth guided-missile destroyer and warned it could set up an air defense zone over the disputed area.

A LINE in the sand was crossed in February this year. Satellite photographs revealed China had stationed surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island, one of dozens of specks in the sea that have become the focus of increasingly tense territorial disputes.

China is Russia’s key economic partner and the two countries plan to increase trade to $200 billion in the next four years, suggests Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.