ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

A Chinese frigate launches a missile during a naval drill in the East China Sea. Photo: Weibo The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy conducted a series of live-fire drills and formation maneuvers in a large show of force off Hainan Island in the South China Sea and nearby areas in the period between March 24 and April 11. The drills involved the Liaoning aircraft carrier and more than 40 vessels from China’s North, East and South Sea fleets. Following the exercises, on April 12, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Xi Jinping reviewed the PLA Navy in the South China Sea, saying that the need to build a strong navy “has never been more urgent than today”, according to the state-run news agency Xinhua. More than 10,000 service personnel, 48 vessels and 76 aircraft took part in the review. On April 10, the USS Theodore Roosevelt  conducted aircraft operations  as it was passing the South China Sea on its way to Manila, the US newspaper Navy Times reported.

The Iranian National Gas Company intends to raise the country’s share in the global gas trade, focusing at the international markets, according to Iranian media. The Iranian liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports reportedly rose to around 500,000 metric tons in April. According to reports, this month’s shipments were 14 percent up from last month’s figure bringing this year’s total shipments to 1.86 million metric tons. China’s Oriental Energy Company (OE), loaded 34,000 tons of propane and 14,000 tons of butane supplied by Iranian Gas Commercial Co., aboard an LNG tanker at Iran’s Gulf port of Assaluyeh, which is scheduled to arrive at China’s Qinzhou on April 25. Another ship will bring 33,000 tons of propane and 11,000 tons of butane to Ningbo on May 12. The shipments of Iranian natural gas come as OE was recently ordered by a Texas state district court to pay $523.8 million in damages to Germany’s Mabanaft following an LPG contract dispute. The court decreed that OE had breache