The PLA Navy is likely to secure significant new funding in China's upcoming defense budget as Beijing seeks to check U.S. dominance of the high seas and step up its own projection of power around the globe.

• February 26, 2017

Syrian government and opposition delegates to peace talks in Geneva on Saturday warned of the impact on negotiations after a day of violence in Syria that included jihadist suicide bombings and missile strikes by the air force.

• February 25, 2017

Japan has protested to Russia over its plan to boost troop strength on disputed islands, Japan's top government spokesman said on Thursday, the latest move in a territorial row that has overshadowed ties since World War Two.

• February 23, 2017

Opposing sides in the Syrian war came face-to-face in U.N. peace talks for the first time in three years on Thursday, to hear U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura implore them to find a way out of the almost six-year-old conflict.

• February 23, 2017

China denied on Thursday that it had increased its troop presence on the border with North Korea after the murder of the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Malaysia.

• February 23, 2017

A Ukrainian lawmaker who proposed an alternative plan for peace with Russian-backed separatists to U.S. President Donald Trump's administration told Reuters on Tuesday he plans to travel to Washington to present the proposal publicly.

• February 21, 2017

U.S. Republican senators plan to introduce legislation to impose further sanctions on Iran, accusing it of violating U.N. Security Council resolutions by testing ballistic missiles and acting to "destabilise" the Middle East, a U.S. senator said Sunday.

• February 19, 2017

With the suspension of all North Korean coal imports, China has wielded a big stick against its reclusive neighbor, but there is no sign it will cut off all critical links and Beijing is still promoting talks to solve the dispute over Pyongyang's program to develop nuclear weapons.

• February 19, 2017