Rumours and Threats of Wars:

Matthew 24:6-8 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Mark 13:7-8 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

South China Sea alert: Fears of war surge as Vietnam confronts Beijing over ‘violations’

VIETNAM has made a desperate plea to Beijing to remove its vessels from a disputed region within the South China Sea.

By BILL MCLOUGHLIN PUBLISHED: 03:06, Sun, Aug 18, 2019 | UPDATED: 10:33, Mon, Aug 19, 2019

Like many countries in the region, Vietnam has clashed with China over certain areas which Beijing considers within its nine-dash line policy. The nine-dash line policy is the demarcation line marked out by Beijing and includes hotly contested island groups such as the Spratly and Paracels. Recently, Vietnam confirmed that a Chinese survey vessel had re-entered its territorial waters, thus inflaming tensions once again.

Following the return of the Chinese vessel, Vietnam has pleaded with China to leave the Vanguard bank.

In a statement, Le Thi Thu Hang, a spokeswoman for the country foreign ministry said on Friday: “Vietnam has made contact with China to protest its repeated violations and demanded that China withdraw the vessel group from Vietnamese waters.”

Adding to the tense relations, on Friday a Chinese fishing ban that had been in place since May, was lifted.

As a result of that, fleets of fishing vessels from China are expected to enter areas that neighbouring countries may consider as their own.

Experts have already stated that lifting the ban could increase the friction between Beijing and Hanoi.

With tensions in the region threatening to spill into conflict, the US has stepped up patrols in the sea.

In light of that, Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi stated that any non-regional country should leave.

Mr Wang added: “We think non-regional countries should not deliberately amplify such differences or disputes.

“Non-regional countries should also not make use of these differences to sow distrust between China and ASEAN countries.”

Fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member, the Philippines has also expressed its fear over the presence of Chinese ships.

Presidential spokesman, Salvador Panelo said: “We express concern with that kind of incident because they China keep on saying that we’re friends.

“I don’t think that this is an act of friendship.”