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The E-8C was spotted near the Guangdong coast on Monday (Photo: SCMP)

US sends surveillance aircraft to watch Chinese coastline

The E-8C was spotted near the Guangdong coast on Monday as the Taiwanese military started its annual training exercise, according to an image published on Twitter by the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, a Peking University think tank.

The lastest flight comes as relations between Washington and Beijing continue to deteriorate.

As reported by SCMP, this year’s training exercise marks its first time featuring Taiwan’s newly formed combined arms battalions and cooperative special forces operations, torpedo target practice and live-fire drills involving reserve units.

Before being spotted near Guangdong, the E-8C had been at Kadena airbase in Japan and was spotted flying over Tokyo early on Monday and near the Korean peninsula in recent months as tensions escalated.

The Chinese military has also responded to recent US military activities by warning that they will only harm America’s allies.

Last week, a US RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft and two EP-3E reconnaissance planes approached the Chinese coast for three days in a row.

Earlier this month, the US conducted a large air defense drill in the South China Sea, involving two aircraft carrier groups led by the USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan, “in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific”.

EU foreign ministers urge more action on Turkey and China

EU foreign ministers met held the first in-person meeting since the pandemic to discuss deteriorating relations with Turkey and the bloc's concerns over the new security law in Hong Kong, Euro News reported.

Greece's foreign minister is pushing for a list of possible sanctions against Ankara, for "violating the sovereign rights of Greece and Cyprus," over energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey has sent vessels to drill for gas in an area of the Mediterranean where Cyprus says it has exclusive rights. Ministers tasked Brussels with coming up with a way to lower tensions with Turkey.

The EU is also working on a "coordinated approach" to China's new security law in Hong Kong, a mix of actions at EU and Menber state level will be included.

"Our message in this context is two-fold. First to the people in Hong Kong, the support of the EU for the autonomy and fundamental freedom, we will continue to stand by the people of Hong Kong. And to China, the message is that the recent actions change the rules, this will require revision of our approach and will clearly have an impact on our relations," Borrell told reporters after the meeting.

Sweden has joined France and Germany in calling for a stronger response to Beijing.

Measures proposed by France and Germany include: extending the EU’s export ban on items that could be used for torture or repressive policing, like rubber bullets, giving activists long-term refugee status in the EU and allowing more Hong Kong students to study in Europe, as reported by Euro News.

EU foreign ministers met held the first in-person meeting since the pandemic to discuss deteriorating relations with Turkey and the bloc's concerns over the new security law in Hong Kong (Photo: Euro News)

Yangtze flood alarm rises to strident level

The mainland's flood response alert was raised to the second-highest level yesterday as heavy rain battered regions along the Yangtze river, with the eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Jiangxi among the worst hit.

Flooding in Jiangxi's Poyang county pushed the level of Lake Poyang - China's biggest freshwater lake - to above 22.5 meters, an all-time high. And the alert level had by then been well passed at 19.5m.

Thousands of provincial military authorities have been sent to help boster nearly nine kilometers of the lake's banks. Around 141 people have died or gone missing in China due to heavy floods. The weather disaster has so far ravaged 3.53 million hectares of farmland and flattened 28,000 homes, according to Xinhua. The country suffers a total of 82.2 billion yuan (US $11.74 billion) economic loss.

12 rivers have exceeded their alerting levels since early July, with 19 of them rising to historical highs, officials in the Ministry of Water Resources reveals.

The mainland's flood response alert was raised to the second-highest level (Photo: Nyob News)

Gold Price Analysis: XAU/USD wavers around $1,800 amid risk reset

Gold prices seesaw around $1,802, following its failure to extend the pullback from $1,800.62 beyond $1,804.26, amid the initial Asian session on Tuesday. While the bears are firming up the grip to defy Monday’s rejection of earlier declines since Thursday, bulls refrain from leaving unless $1,800 holds.

The latest headlines portray risk recovery amid the receding coronavirus (COVID-19) numbers from the US and mixed news concerning the Sino-American tension. While the CNBC relied on the top US health official to convey the early arrival of the pandemic’s cure, Bloomberg cited American diplomats dropping the idea of undermining the Hong Kong dollar peg to punish Beijing. However, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s comments defying China’s claim over the South China Sea and Reuters update signaling further hardships for the listings of the Asian major’s equities on the US floor question the risk-on mood.

Other than the virus and the US-China tension, the UK’s ban on Huawei from British networks until 2027 and confrontations with new aircraft carriers also add worries into the global markets. On the contrary, increasing odds of further stimulus from the developed economies, including the US and the UK, underpin the risk-on moves.

Against this backdrop, S&P 500 Futures part ways from the downbeat Wall Street performance to print 0.21% gains around 3,155 by the press time. However, the US 10-year Treasury yields remain depressed around 0.62% as we write, according to FX Street.

(Photo: FX Street)

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