Upsc Infocademy

The Chinese Coast Guard has repeatedly used military-grade lasers, water cannons, and ramming tactics to block resupply missions, severely testing the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.

A submerged coral atoll located in the Spratly Islands within the South China Sea. It lies 105 nautical miles west of Palawan, placing it squarely within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Philippines, though it is heavily claimed by China.

Tensions spiked into a major regional security crisis recently after the discovery of massive offshore oil reserves in the region, prompting Venezuela to hold a referendum to annex the territory.

The Essequibo region claimed by Venezuela

It lies directly on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to the west and Rwanda to the east. Lake Kivu sits at the heart of the escalating Great Lakes conflict. Its northern shores border Goma, the besieged capital of DRC's North Kivu province, which is currently the epicenter of a massive military offensive by the M23 rebel group (widely accused of being backed by Rwanda).

: It is the absolute ground zero of the Sahel security crisis. This specific zone is heavily contested by rival jihadist coalitions (ISGS and JNIM). The severe instability in this exact region triggered the recent military coups in all three bordering nations, leading them to expel Western forces and form the mutual defense pact known as the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).