WAR CHINA THREATENS TO INVADE TAIWAN

Doomer Doug

TB Fanatic
Mz kitty one step at a time. China will wait for piglosi to fly bacm to conus and then really ramp it up.
The air and naval blockades are PERMANENT.
 

okie-carbine

Veteran Member
It looks like the missile strikes are right on target of where they said they were going to hit. If China wanted to, they could probably destroy any particular building they wanted to in Taiwan.
 

northern watch

TB Fanatic
Globalization of the conflict: Chinese forces on the border with Donbass – Preparations for war in Taiwan via Ukraine (video)
Preparations for dealing with NATO tactics in Taiwan
04/08/2022 - 21:16
War News 24 / 7

Military equipment "made in china" has been identified in the Rostov region of Russia near the border with Ukraine, and in particular with Donbass, which has raised legitimate concerns about involvement in the Ukrainian war.

A few days before, there were reports that hundreds of retired Chinese special forces arrived in Donbass and registered to join the Russian-backed militias of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics.

The main reason, according to the same information, was for the Chinese Armed Forces to gain experience on the battlefield and to see up close the performance of Western weapons and the NATO tactics that sooner or later they will encounter in the Taiwan war.

In addition, parts of the Chinese military equipment deployed in Fujian province opposite Taiwan, carried the special Russian "Z" signals sending a message to the US. The photos were published by residents of the southern Chinese province.

In the photo at the end of the text you can see that the Dongfeng Mengshi EQ2050 armored by the People's Liberation Army of China bears the mark "Z".

Next to Donbass military equipment of the PLA...

A few hours ago, Russian citizens were surprised by the appearance of Chinese military equipment in the Rostov region.

According to the video Chinese military equipment was transported by railroad near the village of Alekseevo-Lozovskoye in the Rostov region.

What is striking is that this region borders Donetsk and Lugansk.


There is still no official update from Moscow. Some information has the MILITARY EQUIPMENT of the PLA being transferred to participate in the next International Army Games (Army-2022) – in which military personnel of various countries participate. These matches will be held at the end of August.

The PLA command and representatives of 10 more states planned to actively participate in the Army Games-2022.

On July 25, the first train equipped with the PLA arrived in Russia, at Zabaikalsk station, for participation in the Army Games 2022, which will be held in Alabino near Moscow.

Tanks and special repair and maintenance equipment were located on the railway platforms. The echelon also included logistical wagons and ammunition, as well as advanced teams of military personnel, including drivers and the engineering and technical personnel of the China team.

A few days later, after the tanks and soldiers of the Tibetan Military District of the Western Zone of the PLA Combat Command arrived in Russia, for the mountain units competition "Elbrus Ring" and the Army Games-2022 competition. For the first time, Chinese military personnel promised to bring third-generation Dongfeng Warrior tanks to Russia, which have massively entered service with the PLA since 2018.

But again this Chinese route next to the border with Donbass is not convincing. The Chinese had to follow a different route to get to Moscow. What is Beijing preparing?

Do Chinese drones carry?

We recall that since March the Americans have reported that Russia has asked China for military equipment for the war in Ukraine.

"The Russian request has been made since the beginning of the military invasion and concerns
'military equipment and other assistance'," the Americans said at the time.

Another US source had stressed that the US will alert the allies to the new data, as there are "indications that China may be preparing to help Russia". As it happened.

Russia had reportedly asked, as well as Iran, for drones and specific ammunition.

Soon after, Joe Biden's administration added five Chinese companies to the trade blacklist because of support for Russia's military and defense industrial base.

Chinese companies are as follows:

1.Connec Electronic
2. King Pai
3.Sinno Electronics
4.Winninc Electronic
5. World Jetta (HK) Logistics

The Commerce Department said it is punishing them and adding five of the companies to a blacklist of trade transactions known as the "Entity List." He also accused two Chinese research institutes that have already been blacklisted since 2018 of supporting the Russian military in recent weeks.

Entities added to the list are effectively excluded from the U.S. technology market.


"All companies and institutes have signed recent contracts to continue supplying the Russian military, violating export controls under the United States aimed at blocking Russia's access to high-tech components and equipment," the US Department of Commerce said.

Globalization of the conflict: Chinese forces on the border with Donbass - Preparations for war in Taiwan via Ukraine (video) - WarNews247
 

jward

passin' thru
Wen Lii 李問
@wen1949


Director, Matsu Islands office,
@DPPonline
. 馬祖列島 On the frontline of democracy: 200km from Taipei, 20km off the coast of China. Tweets SEA/China/TW
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Frankly I’m disappointed at the hyperbolic response leading up to Pelosi’s Taiwan visit from certain "China experts" in the West. If a Chinese state-media pundit claims that China will attack a foreign delegation, and you believe it, then you’re probably not an expert on China.1/

When China issues violent threats, people in Taiwan heighten our level of alertness and observe actual actions that follow the remarks, such as limited displays of force. We don’t ignore the comments, but we should focus on avoiding civilian accidents in the process. 2/

We focus on keeping people safe during these displays, instead of panicking over proclamations of full war, which would require months to prepare. We even maintain interactions with Chinese govt agencies that are NOT issuing exaggerated remarks, such as on a local level. 3/

Communist officials are encouraged to issue violent threats, but not expected to follow through. It’s a method of communication that requires reading between the lines. If Western “experts” allow targeted remarks to affect policy, they effectively help spread disinformation. 4/

So no, China won’t launch WWIII. China might express dissatisfaction, but that returns us to where we draw the line for yielding to China’s demands. I don’t think Taiwan should actively provoke China, but a trip unrelated to national sovereignty shouldn’t be seen as such. 5/5
 

northern watch

TB Fanatic
They are sparking a conflagration in the Pacific: THE US activates the "Lend-Lease Act" for Taiwan as well – Ambassador of China: "We will understand it soon"
By Vassilis Kapoulas
04/08/2022 - 23:34
War News 24 / 7

They are sparking a conflagration in the Pacific: THE US activates the Lend-Lease Act for Taiwan as well – Ambassador of China: We will understand it soon

Taiwan is slowly and steadily turning into a new Ukraine as US Senators prepare a bipartisan bill with which they will activate for Taipei, as they did with Kiev, the military assistance program of the Second World War, "Lend-Lease Act".

It is a question mark over whether the US defence industry will withstand fighting on two fronts. Us action is also very risky as it will directly implicate AUKUS against China. Soon South Korea-Japan, Australia and Britain will be called upon to strengthen Taiwan.


In the USA they know and it is 100% a given that there will be a Chinese attack on Taiwan, When, the country's leadership will choose it but everything indicates that the "ground zero" is very close.

Today, on the first day of the largest military exercises in the history of the PLA, ballistic missiles passed over the heads of the inhabitants of Taiwan to fall either into the territorial waters of the island or into the EEZ of Japan.

This is an unprecedented act of war that has never been done before in history. A mistake to make and the Chinese missile, even from a manufacturing defect, will fall into Taiwan. The conflict is so close.

At the same time, China's ambassador to France spoke publicly of a "retraining" of the Taiwanese people which will take place after the reunification of the island with the mainland while General Meng Xiangjun (NDU of China) explained that the six areas in which the PLA conducts its exercises with real fire delineate the encirclement of Taiwan, potentially sealing the Keelung as well as the Bashi Channel.

He spoke of a rehearsal of war and the blockade of Taiwan.

This version is reinforced by the fact that a military convoy consisting of 160 amphibious ZBL08 armored vehicles of the Chinese Army headed for Xiamen, in Fujian province opposite Taiwan.

These will be loaded onto landing ships.

In other words, we have a repeat of the Ukrainian scenario. Exactly the same precision simulation tactics were carried out by the Russian Army.

At the same time, the PLA's Eastern Military Command revealed a few minutes ago that it deployed up to 100 types of aircraft in the north, southwest, southeast of Taiwan. It is confirmed that aerial tankers Y-20U were also developed.

Chinese ambassador: We will occupy Taiwan and retrain it

A senior Chinese diplomat has publicly revealed that Beijing will "retrain" the Taiwanese people after "reuniting" the island with the mainland.

Lu Sai, China's ambassador to France, spoke publicly about Beijing's war plans.

Speaking to French station BFMTV on Wednesday, Lou Sai described N.Pelosi's trip to Taiwan as an "unnecessary provocation", which "created great danger".

According to the diplomat, most people in Taiwan supported reunification with China a few years ago, but the propaganda of the Democratic Progressive Party of "anti-China" direction brainwashed the people.

That is why he believes that the population of Taiwan should be "retrained".

"After the reunion, we will do retraining. I am sure that at that moment, the people of Taiwan will once again become favourable to reunification.

The population will then regain its patriotic sense. Training will be the main weapon of this work, and it will not be done "under threat".


U.S. activates Lend-Lease Act for Taiwan

The U.S. for the second time since 1941 and World War II will again activate the Lend-Lease Act. This time for Taiwan.

This Law, which was also adopted for Ukraine, will allow US forces to immediately transfer military equipment by cutting bureaucratic procedures.

This law was originally passed by the U.S. Congress in March 1941 to provide the Allies during World War with military equipment/supplies and most importantly, oil, to continue fighting the Axis powers around the world and crush Hitler's forces.


The Lend-Lease program created during World War II is thought to have changed the game in the conflict, as it allowed the U.S. to quickly refuel the Allies without time-consuming procedural hurdles.

Republicans are reportedly preparing to introduce the same legislation that applies to Ukraine to create a "loan-lease" military assistance program for Taiwan to repel China's increased aggressive actions.

The bill is the brainchild of Senators Michelle Steel and Marsha Blackburn.

"The Chinese Communist Party continues to intimidate and pressure our ally, and the United States must always be on the side of freedom and democracy," said Senator Steel, (R-Calif).

The bill would authorize the president to lend or lease weapons and military equipment to Taiwan. In return, the country's government is required to repay the cost of "restoring or replacing" the borrowed weapons over a period of 12 years.

The bill stipulates that the White House may choose to renegotiate the repayment amount if it deems that the money will be taken away from the national security of both Taiwan and the U.S.

"Taiwan is our largest partner in the Indo-Pacific region, and its continued sovereignty is necessary to challenge the New Axis of Evil," Blackburn (R-TN) said.

"Taiwan should know that the United States will support it with defensive supplies — including weapons and armaments — regardless of what the Chinese Communist Party says."

The bill is already garnering bipartisan support in Congress and comes amid a surge in China's aggression

The tactics have forced Taiwan to raise the level of preparedness and conduct nationwide exercises while residents of the island nations have been subjected to airstrike exercises and other security measures.

Members of Congress say the federal government must send a strong message to China that aggression against a U.S. ally will be fought..

"I'm proud to be leading this bipartisan bill in Congress to show the CCP that we won't back down from the support of our allies," Steele said.

Taiwan's official representative to the U.S. told Fox News Digital that she welcomes all assistance in her fight for freedom.

"We appreciate Congress' effort to seek creative avenues to strengthen Taiwan's defense capabilities," spokesman Bi-khim Hsiao said.

"Taiwan is determined to defend our freedom and democratic way of life, and we will continue to work with the U.S. and our like-minded partners to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait."

A few minutes ago, White House reporter PhilipWegmann asked The Kirby Security Council spokesman about this bill.

"House Republicans are already moving forward with ... proposing [legislation] that would create a kind of arms leasing program for Taiwan... is this an overreaction... that increases tensions[?]"

They spark a conflagration in the Pacific: US activates "Lend-Lease Act" for Taiwan as well - Ambassador China: "We will understand it soon" - WarNews247
 
Last edited:

Housecarl

On TB every waking moment
They are sparking a conflagration in the Pacific: THE US activates the "Lend-Lease Act" for Taiwan as well – Ambassador of China: "We will understand it soon"
By Vassilis Kapoulas
04/08/2022 - 23:34
War News 24 / 7

They are sparking a conflagration in the Pacific: THE US activates the Lend-Lease Act for Taiwan as well – Ambassador of China: We will understand it soon

Taiwan is slowly and steadily turning into a new Ukraine as US Senators prepare a bipartisan bill with which they will activate for Taipei, as they did with Kiev, the military assistance program of the Second World War, "Lend-Lease Act".

It is a question mark over whether the US defence industry will withstand fighting on two fronts. Us action is also very risky as it will directly implicate AUKUS against China. Soon South Korea-Japan, Australia and Britain will be called upon to strengthen Taiwan.


In the USA they know and it is 100% a given that there will be a Chinese attack on Taiwan, When, the country's leadership will choose it but everything indicates that the "ground zero" is very close.

Today, on the first day of the largest military exercises in the history of the PLA, ballistic missiles passed over the heads of the inhabitants of Taiwan to fall either into the territorial waters of the island or into the EEZ of Japan.

This is an unprecedented act of war that has never been done before in history. A mistake to make and the Chinese missile, even from a manufacturing defect, will fall into Taiwan. The conflict is so close.

At the same time, China's ambassador to France spoke publicly of a "retraining" of the Taiwanese people which will take place after the reunification of the island with the mainland while General Meng Xiangjun (NDU of China) explained that the six areas in which the PLA conducts its exercises with real fire delineate the encirclement of Taiwan, potentially sealing the Keelung as well as the Bashi Channel.

He spoke of a rehearsal of war and the blockade of Taiwan.

This version is reinforced by the fact that a military convoy consisting of 160 amphibious ZBL08 armored vehicles of the Chinese Army headed for Xiamen, in Fujian province opposite Taiwan.

These will be loaded onto landing ships.

In other words, we have a repeat of the Ukrainian scenario. Exactly the same precision simulation tactics were carried out by the Russian Army.

At the same time, the PLA's Eastern Military Command revealed a few minutes ago that it deployed up to 100 types of aircraft in the north, southwest, southeast of Taiwan. It is confirmed that aerial tankers Y-20U were also developed.

Chinese ambassador: We will occupy Taiwan and retrain it

A senior Chinese diplomat has publicly revealed that Beijing will "retrain" the Taiwanese people after "reuniting" the island with the mainland.

Lu Sai, China's ambassador to France, spoke publicly about Beijing's war plans.

Speaking to French station BFMTV on Wednesday, Lou Sai described N.Pelosi's trip to Taiwan as an "unnecessary provocation", which "created great danger".

According to the diplomat, most people in Taiwan supported reunification with China a few years ago, but the propaganda of the Democratic Progressive Party of "anti-China" direction brainwashed the people.

That is why he believes that the population of Taiwan should be "retrained".

"After the reunion, we will do retraining. I am sure that at that moment, the people of Taiwan will once again become favourable to reunification.

The population will then regain its patriotic sense. Training will be the main weapon of this work, and it will not be done "under threat".

As I noted earlier, Xi and the CCP shouldn't be surprised at a reaction from the US Congress after physically threatening the Speaker of the House.

Adding to that, if they don't chill out in both Beijing and Pyongyang I expect there to be new members of "the Club" in short order. Air launching ballistic missiles from combat aircraft isn't something that the Russians and Israelis have a monopoly on technologically speaking.
 

wait-n-see

Veteran Member
.....


According to the diplomat, most people in Taiwan supported reunification with China a few years ago, but the propaganda of the Democratic Progressive Party of "anti-China" direction brainwashed the people.


...

And this is what happens when you do drugs. You live in a land of delusion and make believe.

Hopefully this is not a common belief in the fruit basket of the last Emperor and his inner slaves, else there will end up being many disillusioned Mainland chi-coms very soon.
 

northern watch

TB Fanatic
White House Orders US Carrier Strike Group To Stay Near Taiwan Longer Than Planned, Says China 'Overreacting'

BY TYLER DURDEN
ZERO HEDGE
THURSDAY, AUG 04, 2022 - 05:18 PM

Update(1718ET): The United States says it's watching ongoing Chinese military drills around Taiwan very closely, while condemning the latest series of ballistic missiles fired over the island as a severe provocation and escalation. The White House has ordered the Ronald Reagan carrier strike group to stay in the area.

US National Security Council (NSC) spokesman John Kirby said in statements to MSNBC Thursday: "We’ve been watching this very, very closely. It’s concerning. It’s not just concerning to us, but it’s concerning, of course, to the people of Taiwan. It’s concerning to to our allies in the region, especially Japan."

"The provocateur here is Beijing. They didn’t have to react this way to what is completely normal travel by congressional members to Taiwan...The Chinese are the ones who are escalating this," Kirby added. He warned further, "One of the things that’s troublesome about exercises like this or missile launches like this is the risk of calculation, the risk of a mistake that could actually lead to some sort of conflict," he said.

Kirby in a press briefing at the White House also said it's Beijing that "chose to overreact" to Nancy Pelosi's visit:

"We condemn these actions, which are irresponsible and at odds with our long-standing goal of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the region," Kirby told reporters at the White House. "China has chosen to overreact and use the speaker's visit as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait."

Both Taiwan officials, but more importantly Chinese officials and state media have acknowledged that effectively a blockade of the self-ruled island is in progress.

And somewhat alarming for the prospect of 'inadvertent' aggression between the PLA and US navies, Kirmy affirmed that the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group plans to continue 'freedom of navigation' maneuvers through the Taiwan Strait.

According to more details on the US strike group,

On Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and its strike group "to remain in the general area to monitor the situation," Kirby said.

"They'll be there for a little bit longer than they were originally planned," said Kirby. "I won't get ahead of the ship's schedule but the president believed it was a prudent thing to do, to leave her and her escort ships there just a little bit longer."
The U.S. will also conduct "standard air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks, consistent with our long-standing approach to defending the freedom of the seas and international law," he added.


File image of USS Ronald Reagan pictured during an exercise with South Korean warships, via AP.


So the strike group will linger longer as the PLA conducts unprecedented in size live fire drills, which will only increase the chances of an 'incident' between the two rival superpowers as Taiwan's population continues to be on edge.

* * *

Update(11:17ET): In another ominous sign signaling China intends to escalate its threatening and retaliatory military drills now encircling Taiwan, state-run Global Times has cited a source saying that a PLA aircraft carrier group with a nuclear-powered submarine has now joined the ongoing exercises off Taiwan.

Additionally, the English-language government mouthpiece GT is now calling the five-day drill that have commenced a rehearsal for a "reunification operation" - and says that after Pelosi's provocative and damaging visit, "exercises blockading" Taiwan are to "become routine".

This as Japan's Foreign Ministry has said Thursday evening (local time) that five missiles fired by China have landed within Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Taiwan's defense ministry, has meanwhile said 22 more Chinese air force jets have buzzed its airspace.

Further, videos of the PLA firing missiles over Taiwan are now circulating on social media, appearing to show local citizens in some locales filming and watching as if it's a patriotic spectacle...

The PRC government has also released official footage of some of its latest ballistic missile launches which landed in waters off the self-ruled island...

Beijing is also threatening tougher sanctions to come against Taipei, in order to squeeze the pro-independence movement in Taipei. GT frames the latest economic punishment measures as follows:

Following the Chinese mainland's suspension of imports of several agricultural products from the island of Taiwan, which is viewed as a sort of punishing fallout from US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit, residents from the island's agricultural and business sectors, as well as some local netizens, have expressed dissatisfaction with the secessionist Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), given the close connection between the island and the huge mainland market.
Starting on Wednesday, Chinese mainland customs authorities suspended the entry of citrus fruits including grapefruits, lemons and oranges, as well as two types of fish (chilled large head hairtail and frozen horse mackerel) from the island, in accordance with regulations and food safety requirements.

China is saying this is only the beginning of the 5-day military exercises, identifying major military assets that have joined, including the following:
  • J-20 stealth fighter jets
  • H-6K bombers, J-11 fighter jets
  • Type 052D destroyer
  • Type 056A corvette
  • DF-11 short-range ballistic missiles
  • Early warning aircraft
  • DF-17 hypersonic missiles.
Meanwhile, the US also has serious military assets near Taiwan, including the USS Ronald Reagan carrier group...

* * *

China has kicked off its latest round of war drills Thursday aimed at encircling and pressuring Taiwan in the wake of this week's House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visit to the self-ruled island, the day after she departed and continued on her Asia tour to South Korea.

According to China's People's Daily, this has included PLA command dispatching "hundreds" of fighter jets to enter airspace off the northern, southwestern and southeastern airspaces of the island, at a moment Taiwan's defense forces are on a heightened state of alert. On Wednesday some half a dozen jets were reported as having breached the 'median line' separating the Taiwan Strait. Beijing is promising in essence this is only the beginning.

And more alarming, China launched a series of ballistic missiles into waters off Taiwan, with some having flown over the island. "Taiwan has confirmed that mainland China launched 11 Dongfeng series missiles into waters north, south and east of the island on Thursday afternoon, a day after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left Taipei," South China Morning Post reports.

"The island’s defence ministry said the 11 DF series missiles were fired between 1.56pm and 4pm. It is the first time mainland missiles have flown over the island."

Taipei's defense ministry immediately condemned the severe provocation: "The defence ministry condemned the irrational actions to undermine regional peace," a statement said. Taiwan further called on Beijing to be "self-restrained".


Via The Telegraph/@Military_News4


Taiwanese media outlets are reporting of the unprecedented missile flyover of the island:

People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command Spokesman Shi Yi that afternoon announced that the PLA's Eastern Theater Command Rocket Force launched a "multi-regional and multi-model exercise" in the waters off the coast of eastern Taiwan, according to China's state-run TV broadcaster CCTV. Shi claimed that the guided missiles all "hit their targets accurately."


Map source: The Telegraph


Already there has been a 'close call' incident between the two militaries:

Earlier, it [Taiwan's military] revealed suspected Chinese drones had flown above the Kinmen Islands, Taiwanese territory off China’s southeastern coast, and it had fired flares to drive them away.
Major General Chang Zone-sung of the military’s Kinmen Defense Command told the Reuters news agency that the Chinese drones came in a pair and flew into the Kinmen area twice on Wednesday night, at about 9pm (13:00 GMT) and 10pm (14:00 GMT).

Warning flared were then fired: “We immediately fired flares to issue warnings and to drive them away. After that, they turned around. They came into our restricted area and that’s why we dispersed them,” the Taiwanese general said.
While China had quickly started snap drills as Pelosi's Air Force plane - reportedly with US fighter jet escort - landed in Taipei earlier this week, Thursday marks the start of more expansive live-fire drills around the whole island, slated to last five days.

The next five days will include live-fire drills and missile tests surrounding the island in these reported locations, as detailed in Chinese state media publications...



Meanwhile, China is furious over a prior day Group of Seven (G7) statement condemning its military drills. The G7 warned Beijing not to use Pelosi's visit as "pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait".

In protest, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi has within the last hours canceled what was to be a face-to-face summit with his Japanese counterpart. At the same time increased cyberattacks are being reported against Taiwan government websites in local media.

White House Orders US Carrier Strike Group To Stay Near Taiwan Longer Than Planned, Says China 'Overreacting' | ZeroHedge
 

northern watch

TB Fanatic
China Launches Live-Fire Drills, Missiles Around Taiwan After Pelosi Visit; Ship, plane and missile drills encircle island and come close to key ports; five missiles land within Japan's exclusive economic zone

Thursday, August 4, 2022, 9:40 PM ET
By Wenxin Fan and Chun Han Wong in Hong Kong and Joyu Wang in Taipei
Wall Street Journal

China encircled Taiwan with rocket and ballistic-missile fire while testing the democratic self-governing island’s defenses with navy ships and war planes, as Beijing protested a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“The exercises have begun,” China’s navy said on its official social-media account shortly after noon local time Thursday.

The show of force in response to Mrs. Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory, disrupted commercial air and sea routes and raised concerns about further military escalation. Taiwan and the U.S. condemned China’s moves, with the White House announcing that the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and its accompanying ships would remain in the region “to monitor the situation.”

The four-day exercises—which included firing nearly a dozen missiles—are taking place in six zones delineated by the Chinese military. Several face the island’s biggest commercial ports and overlap with what Taiwan claims as its territorial waters.

The zones effectively encircle Taiwan in what amounts to a temporary blockade as some ship and air traffic is warned away.

The targets are the closest ever to Taiwan’s main island, Major Gen. Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University, told China’s state broadcaster Thursday morning ahead of the drills. Some of the designated live-fire zones reach into waters within 12 miles of the Taiwanese coastline.

“This establishes an encirclement of Taiwan island,” Gen. Meng said. “This creates very good conditions for reshaping the strategic situation in a way that benefits unification.”

After the day’s drills, Gen. Meng told state television that the PLA launched missiles over the island of Taiwan, the first time the military has done so. He didn’t specify the number of missiles but said the arc passed over an area where Taiwan stations Patriot missile batteries, which is monitored by the U.S. Navy.

At the White House, John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, criticized the Chinese drills and blamed Beijing for escalating tensions unnecessarily.

“China has chosen to overreact and use the speaker’s visit as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait,” Mr. Kirby said, adding that U.S. policy regarding Taiwan hadn’t changed.

He said Beijing’s actions wouldn’t deter the U.S. from its security commitments in the region and that the U.S. military would conduct standard air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks in line with longstanding operations.

Mr. Kirby also said the Biden administration postponed a routine test launch of an Air Force Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California this week to avoid further inflaming relations with China and to reduce the risk of a miscalculation.

Thursday afternoon, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said China had fired multiple Dongfeng ballistic missiles at 1:56 p.m. into northeastern and southwestern waters claimed by the island.

Units from the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command “conducted live-fire training with long-range firepower in the Taiwan Strait” at around 1 p.m. local time, the command said Thursday on its social-media account. The firing was directed toward designated areas in the eastern stretches of the Taiwan Strait close to Taiwan’s main island and achieved “anticipated effects,” it said.

Later in the afternoon, the command said it had launched conventional missiles in a designated zone east of the island, “successfully completing” a live-fire operation. The area is again open to traffic, it said.

Five of the missiles fired by China landed within Japan’s exclusive economic zone, the first time this has happened, said Japan’s defense minister Nobuo Kishi. “This is a grave problem affecting the safety of our people,” Mr. Kishi said. “I strongly protest.”

State broadcaster CCTV aired a video of missiles launching into the air from unknown mountainous areas, saying they all hit targets precisely. The 29-second video ended with an animation depicting projectiles dropping into the ocean in three of the six zones off its eastern coast, without showing trajectories.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry condemned the missile launches, likening Beijing to North Korea. The island’s Defense Ministry separately said it tracked 22 Chinese warplanes that on Thursday crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait, a notional boundary that Taipei says demarcates areas of de facto control between the two sides. The ministry on Wednesday tracked the same number of PLA aircraft crossing the median line, a gesture that Taiwan considers provocative.

CCTV’s prime-time evening news said Thursday’s drills reached “an unprecedented scale” for a military operation targeted at Taiwan. In addition to missiles and long-range weapons, up to 100 jet fighters and bombers were deployed near the island, while more than 10 warships patrolled in the waters close by in a joint blockade operation.

Chieh Chung, an associate research fellow with Taiwan’s National Policy Foundation, saw the drills as a rehearsal of China’s playbook for a confrontation over Taiwan. The proximity of the drills could erode the buffer zone between the island and the mainland and increasing the risk of clashes, he said.

“When an incident happens, a conflict is likely to break out, even if both sides are not expecting it,” he said.

China’s central government warned ships to avoid the areas of the exercises. Fujian, the Chinese province along the Taiwan Strait, warned ships and planes from entering the area during the drills.

Taiwan’s maritime and port bureau has urged ships to find alternative routes to and from the island’s seven big ports during the exercises. The ports are open and operating normally, a spokeswoman for the bureau said Thursday.

“We expect delays and maybe some ship rerouting in the eastern part of Taiwan,” an executive from a large European containership operator said. “It could cause delays of up to three days.”

More than 70 international flights to and from Taipei were rerouted Thursday in light of the drills, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications. The ministry said a total of 35 ships detoured to avoid the drills, but no vessels were blocked in ports.

Korean Air Lines Co. canceled its flights between Seoul and Taipei for Friday and Saturday. Friday flights by Asiana Airlines Inc. on the same route also were canceled, according to the airline’s website.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry called the drills irrational and destabilizing. “We seek no escalation, but we don’t stand down,” it said in a tweet.

Earlier Thursday, the Taiwanese military said it fired flares to warn off drones that flew near Kinmen and Beiding, two small islands just miles off the Chinese mainland that are controlled by Taiwan.

China’s navy had already maneuvered into position and training operations have been continuing near Taiwan since Mrs. Pelosi’s visit began.

The Eastern Theater Command, which oversees troops positioned close to Taiwan, said it commenced operations as early as Tuesday night, shortly after Mrs. Pelosi’s plane touched down in Taipei.

On Wednesday, the command released photos and footage that it said depicted joint training that day between air, sea and land-based forces, though the imagery didn’t feature any live firing. Units from the command carried out aerial patrols near Taiwan and conducted several rounds of simulated attacks against vessels, state media said.

Joanne Ou, a spokeswoman for Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry, said Thursday that large-scale cyberattacks that crippled Taiwan government websites on Tuesday evening were traced to China and Russia, calling them a “deliberate attempt to paralyze” the websites.

Write to Wenxin Fan at Wenxin.Fan@wsj.com, Chun Han Wong at chunhan.wong@wsj.com and Joyu Wang at joyu.wang@wsj.com

China Launches Live-Fire Drills, Missiles Around Taiwan After Pelosi Visit - WSJ
 

jward

passin' thru
Time to cool down Taiwan tensions
Tony Walker

6-8 minutes




US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s provocative visit to Taiwan has been ill-timed from the perspective of China’s leader Xi Jinping.
In seeking to further consolidate his hold on power ahead of a National Party Congress in November, Xi needs to demonstrate that he is in command.

The Pelosi visit challenges Xi’s strongman narrative domestically at a time when he will be seeking the support of his colleagues in the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party for a third term as party secretary.
If nothing else, the Pelosi mission illustrates the limitations on Xi’s pledge to return Taiwan peacefully to mainland control as part of his declared policy of “national rejuvenation” into a modern superpower.

This goes some way towards explaining Beijing’s reaction to a visit to Taiwan by a member of the US Congress, albeit one who ranks third in the hierarchy behind President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
There are two other factors at play. The first is suspicion in Beijing that the Biden administration is steering away from the US’s longstanding policy of “strategic ambiguity”, or avoiding confronting the “what if” issue if China threatened Taiwan militarily.
Biden has appeared on occasions to suggest that the US would come to Taiwan’s defense in the event of overt Chinese aggression. This exchange between a reporter and Biden in May will have concerned Beijing:
Reporter: You didn’t want to get involved in the Ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons. Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan, if it comes to that?
Biden: Yes.
Reporter: You are?
Biden: That’s the commitment we made.

The White House subsequently sought to walk back Biden’s statement, as it has done on other occasions when he has appeared to step away from a policy fudge on Taiwan.
US President Joe Biden has appeared to suggest that the US would come to Taiwan’s aid China if necessary. AAP/AP/zz/Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx

The episode will have gnawed away at China’s confidence in the US commitment to a “one China policy” negotiated in various communiques and enshrined in the normalization agreement of 1979. That agreement, under the Carter administration, extended full diplomatic recognition to China and severed normal ties with Taiwan.
Congress then enacted the Taiwan Relations Act, which allowed commercial and cultural relations and authorized the supply of weapons to bolster Taiwan’s defenses. This has been a sore point with Beijing.

A second important element in China’s reaction almost certainly rests with Xi’s own exposure to the Taiwan issue as deputy party secretary in Fuzhou Province and political commissar in the People’s Liberation Army reserve during the rolling crises with the US in 1995-96. Fuzhou is the province nearest to Taiwan.
In 1995, China was infuriated when President Bill Clinton authorized a visit to the US by Lee Teng-hui, leader of Taiwan’s Nationalist Party. This reversed a 15-year ban on visits by Taiwanese leaders.
Lee’s election the following year in Taiwan’s first free presidential election further displeased Beijing. This contributed to tensions throughout 1995-96 during which China conducted military exercises off Taiwan and the US sent warships to deter Chinese aggression.

Tensions between the US and China over Taiwan have surfaced sporadically since, but this latest eruption is probably the most serious given the high political stakes involved for Xi. However, it is in neither China’s nor the US’s interests to allow a military confrontation, although the possibility of an accident leading to a wider conflagration cannot be excluded.
It is notable that in its military exercises in and around Taiwan, China has been careful to avoid crossing a median line in the strait itself. The Chinese military has conducted air and sea drills. These have included live fire exercises.
Pelosi has been unrepentant about the diplomatic fallout her visit has caused. In a Washington Post opinion piece released after she landed in Taiwan, she criticised Beijing for increasing tensions with Taiwan. She also took Beijing to task for its “brutal crackdown” on political dissent in Hong Kong, and its mistreatments of its Muslim Uighur minority.

White House spokesman John Kirby noted the administration’s misgivings about Pelosi’s visit. “What we don’t want to see is this spiral into any kind of a crisis or conflict,” Kirby said Tuesday. “There is no reason to amp this up.” This is particularly so at a moment when the US has been urging Beijing to use its influence with Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.
So far, threats of Chinese retaliation have involved restrictions on some Taiwanese exports to China, and a melodramatic summoning in the middle of the night of US Ambassador to Beijing Nicholas Burns to the Foreign Ministry to receive a dressing down.

The Pelosi visit may herald greater tensions in the US-China relationship, but a possible face-to-face meeting between Biden and Xi will be aimed at lowering temperatures.
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (C-L) and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wan at the Taiwan Presidential Palace, August 3, 2022. Image: AAP / EPA / Taiwan Presidential Palace Handout / The Conversation
From Australia’s perspective, there’s no benefit to be gained from tensions between its security guarantor and the destination for one-third of its exports. This was reflected in remarks by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in an interview with CNN when asked whether Australia would defend Taiwan militarily:
Australia supports a one-China policy, but we also support the status quo when it comes to the issue of Taiwan. It is not in the interests of peace and security to talk up those issues of potential conflict.
Albanese’s remarks mirror those of the White House spokesman regarding Taiwan, a reflection that it is not in anyone’s interests for this dispute to escalate.
Tony Walker, Vice-chancellor’s fellow, La Trobe University

 

wait-n-see

Veteran Member
The Chi-Coms screwed up. Their military capability is even worse then the Russians. This ended up being a gold mine of information for the USA and other military agencies.
 

jward

passin' thru
Why Pelosi’s Taiwan visit is so dangerous
David P Goldman






Chinese President Xi Jinping’s warning to his American counterpart Joe Biden that “if you play with fire, you will be burned” is the most belligerent rhetoric China has directed towards the United States in decades, perhaps since the United States and the People’s Republic of China established diplomatic relations in 1972.

Why is China so incensed about the visit of Nancy Pelosi, an American Congresswoman visiting Taiwan without the open endorsement of the Biden administration? The answer lies in the details of diplomatic redlines.
US diplomatic relations with China began with the Shanghai Communique of 1972, which states:
The Chinese side reaffirmed its position: the Taiwan question is the crucial question obstructing the normalization of relations between China and the United States; the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government of China; Taiwan is a province of China which has long been returned to the motherland; the liberation of Taiwan is China’s internal affair in which no other country has the right to interfere; and all US forces and military installations must be withdrawn from Taiwan. The Chinese Government firmly opposes any activities which aim at the creation of “one China, one Taiwan”, “one China, two governments”, “two Chinas”, an “independent Taiwan” or advocate that “the status of Taiwan remains to be determined.”

The US side declared: The United States acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The United States Government does not challenge that position. It reaffirms its interest in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by the Chinese themselves.
Then-US President Richard Nixon toasts with Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai at a banquet in Beijing during his official visit on February 21, 1972. Photo: Agencies
In an off-the-record discussion with Asia Times, one of the original members of the Richard Nixon delegation to China in 1972 stated that the Pelosi visit “clearly violates the spirit of the Shanghai Communique.” That stems from the Constitutional status of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Suppose that the president or vice-president of the United States was to visit Taiwan. A presidential visit would constitute de facto recognition of a sovereign Taiwan in contravention of the Shanghai Communique because heads of state do not visit heads of state of countries that they do not recognize or plan to recognize.

Diplomatic recognition, after all, was the purpose and the outcome of Nixon’s China visit. A visit by the vice president, the president’s deputy who is elected on the same ballot as the president, would have the same character; one role of the vice president is to stand in for the president on state occasions when the president cannot be present.
Under the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, the Speaker of the House of Representatives is next in line to the vice president for succession. Because of the Speaker’s Constitutional position, she is the third highest official in the United States. A presidential or vice-presidential visit to Taiwan would cross China’s red line. A visit by the Speaker nudges the red line.
The Biden administration’s repeated statements that Pelosi is acting on her own only make matters worse.
In an August 2 interview, Professor Wang Wen of Renmin University was asked by the “Observer” website to comment on the Biden administration’s attempt to distance itself from Pelosi. The news site asked, “Is this [policy] actually stupid, or is the US pretending to be stupid?”
Wen replied: “The United States is acting stupid, but it actually is stupid. This business of pretending to be stupid means they clearly understand China’s fundamental interest and red line on the Taiwan issue, but nonetheless, they have stepped on it repeatedly.”

If President Biden strongly objected to Pelosi’s Taiwan trip, he could have dissuaded her from going. At very least he could have denied her the use of American military aircraft.
After a series of missteps and official corrections, notably including the State Department’s fact sheet on US relations with Taiwan and Biden’s impromptu promise in Japan to defend Taiwan against a mainland military incursion, the Pelosi visit looks to Beijing like an American attempt to blur a red line that for Beijing is a raison d’etre of the Chinese state. On August 2, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke of American “perfidy.”
What the Biden administration has in mind is unclear. Whether by accident or design, it has stumbled into a crisis of the utmost gravity.
 

northern watch

TB Fanatic
China Boasts of Ability to Blockade Taiwan as Military Exercises Continue; Beijing highlights unprecedented operation against self-ruled island in response to Pelosi visit

Friday, August 5, 2022, 9:39 AM ET
By Wenxin Fan in Hong Kong and Joyu Wang in Taipei
Wall Street Journal

China touted its military exercises around Taiwan as proof of its ability to blockade the self-ruled island in the event of a war, as the operations in response to a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi entered a second day.

At least 68 Chinese warplanes and 13 warships carried out maneuvers off Taiwan’s coast on Friday, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said. During the operation, some of the aircraft and ships sent by China’s military crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait, a notional boundary that Taipei says demarcates areas of de facto control, the ministry said.

The flurry of military sorties Beijing flew Friday—setting a record of such activity since Taiwan’s military began disclosing the data in September 2020—came after China encircled Taiwan with rocket and ballistic-missile fire a day earlier. The four-day exercises have been described as unprecedented by Chinese military experts and state media. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Cambodia for a regional meeting, said they were a “significant escalation.”

Chinese forces carried out live firing in six delineated zones facing Taiwan’s military bases and its biggest commercial ports, allowing China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army, to form a blockade around the island for the first time, a breakthrough highlighted by state media outlets in Beijing. The areas overlap with what Taiwan claims as its territorial waters.

Maj. Gen. Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University, told China’s state broadcaster that the PLA launched missiles over the main island of Taiwan on Thursday, the first time the military has done so. Gen. Meng didn’t specify how many were fired, but said they passed over an area where Taiwan stations Patriot antimissile batteries, and which is monitored by the U.S. Navy. Taiwan said Beijing fired 11 ballistic missiles near the island.

The exercises simulated an actual war, Gen. Meng said, with China demonstrating the precision and mobility of weaponry that can now blanket the whole island.

“We can say that we have the ability to switch the exercise into a real war at any point,” he said.


It was also the first occasion that Chinese aircraft carriers joined an exercise in a group formation, Gen. Meng said. Two of China’s carriers, the Liaoning and the Shandong, were training together earlier this week before Mrs. Pelosi’s arrival in Taiwan, which coincided with the 95th anniversary of the founding of the PLA. The whereabouts of the carriers couldn’t be determined.

The White House, meanwhile, announced that the USS Ronald Reagan carrier and its accompanying ships would remain in the region to monitor the situation. The White House also summoned Chinese ambassador Qin Gang.

“We made clear to the ambassador that Beijing’s actions are of concern to Taiwan, to us, and to our partners around the world,” White House spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Friday.

On Thursday afternoon, the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command said it had successfully completed all live-fire operations in the waters off the east of Taiwan, lifting traffic controls in the area. By late Friday, it said the second day of drills had been carried out as planned. The state broadcaster aired footage showing flying jet fighters and cruising warships but with no images of live fire included.

More than 200 vessels that regularly navigate the waters around Taiwan have moved out from the six zones. Only a handful of vessels were still sailing in those zones on Friday, from an average 240 a day over the past week, Lloyd’s List Intelligence data show. The Taiwan Strait is a major shipping route, with about half of the global container fleet and 90% of the world’s largest ships by tonnage crossing the waterway last year.

Kaohsiung and Keelung, Taiwan’s two biggest ports, are still open for business, but ship arrivals have fallen by a quarter over the past two days, the data show
.

While the general mood in Taiwan remained calm after the end of Thursday’s exercises, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen called on Beijing to act with reason and restraint.

“Taiwan will not escalate conflict, but we will resolutely defend our sovereignty, our security and our democracy,” she said in a video released Thursday.

On Friday, a prominent figure in Taiwan’s world-leading semiconductor industry announced a donation equivalent to $100 million to promote the island’s civil defense and combat China’s psychological warfare.

Robert Tsao, founder of United Microelectronics Corp., or UMC, said that there were people in Taiwan who wouldn’t be compromised by the lure of Beijing’s economic might or intimidated by its military strength. He urged more people to come to the island’s defense.

UMC, a Taiwanese chip maker that also operates two fabrication plants in China, referred a request for comment to Mr. Tsao himself, without elaborating further. Mr. Tsao remains honorary chairman of UMC after his retirement and isn’t involved with the company’s day-to-day operations.

On Friday afternoon, China said that it was suspending climate-change talks with the U.S. and scrapping some military exchanges in response to Mrs. Pelosi’s visit. The countermeasures include the cancellation of calls between military leaders and two security meetings, and the suspension of cooperation in fighting crime. It also announced sanctions against Mrs. Pelosi and her immediate family.

Visiting Japan on the last leg of her Asia tour, Mrs. Pelosi said Beijing probably saw her visit as an opportunity to conduct the exercises and said the U.S. would continue engaging with Taiwan despite criticism from China.

“We will not allow them to isolate Taiwan,” she said at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.

By visiting Taiwan, Mrs. Pelosi had defied repeated warnings from Beijing. The U.S. Air Force plane carrying her delegation from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Taipei took a three-hour detour, flying over Indonesia and the Philippines before landing in Taipei.

Gen. Meng, the Chinese military expert, told China’s state broadcaster that the circuitous route was a response to the deterrent effect created by China’s deployment around Taiwan.

He said the PLA had followed Mrs. Pelosi’s flight to Taiwan, keeping it under surveillance during the journey. He didn’t say whether Chinese warplanes had physically shadowed her plane.

Write to Wenxin Fan at Wenxin.Fan@wsj.com and Joyu Wang at joyu.wang@wsj.com

China Boasts of Ability to Blockade Taiwan as Military Exercises Continue - WSJ
 

Techwreck

Veteran Member
Blinken does not reassure me.
Same crew that planned for "every contingency" in bailing out of Afghanistan.
Except what actually happened.

Whether this is about to be the kick-off or things will settle down after the Panda has its fit, I don't know, but the Chinese communists haven't been rapidly building their military for just parades.

It does make me question the level of compromise in our leaders when the US and the west are decimating their own economies and people over "climate change" and the Chicoms are not.
 

northern watch

TB Fanatic
China Sanctions Pelosi, Halts US Talks Including Military Ties, As Jets Breach Taiwan Median Line

BY TYLER DURDEN
ZERO HEDGE
FRIDAY, AUG 05, 2022 - 09:45 AM

China has begun its retaliation against Washington by announcing Friday the cancelation of a series of meetings with the United States, namely the suspension of issues it was working bilaterally with the US on, including related to military dialogue, climate change and anti-drug projects. Most important among these at a moment Washington has expressed concern that "the risk of a mistake could actually lead to some sort of conflict" (in John Kirby's words Thursday) - is the cancelation of military ties.

This comes in addition to unveiling undefined sanctions against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the "egregious provocation" of her overnight trip to Taiwan earlier in the week, which saw China immediately respond with ongoing live fire drills which have surrounded the self-ruled island, as well as ballistic missile firings in the vicinity.



The foreign ministry said in a statement, "In disregard of China’s strong opposition and serious representations, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited China’s Taiwan region," and announced the following countermeasures in response:
  • Canceling China-U.S. Theater Commanders Talk.
  • Canceling China-U.S. Defense Policy Coordination Talks (DPCT).
  • Canceling China-U.S. Military Maritime Consultative Agreement (MMCA) meetings.
  • Suspending China-U.S. cooperation on the repatriation of illegal immigrants.
  • Suspending China-U.S. cooperation on legal assistance in criminal matters.
  • Suspending China-U.S. cooperation against transnational crimes.
  • Suspending China-U.S. counternarcotics cooperation.
  • Suspending China-U.S. talks on climate change.
Among the most directly threatening actions thus far has been the PLA military firing ballistic missiles over Taiwan; however, which Taipei on Wednesday refused to confirm actually flew directly over the island, despite many international reports reporting such.
Meanwhile, on climate "dialogue"...

1659709425024.png


Literally hundreds of Chinse military aircraft and ships have also buzzed or breach Taiwan-claimed airspace and waters at this point, as the largest drills in recent history have continued to ramp up. After Beijing declared the "median line" has practically ceased to exist, dozens of aircraft have since crossed over what conventionally demarcated territorial waters of the democratic-run island.

Taiwan said in a defense ministry statement that about 20 Chinese military aircraft briefly cross the Taiwan median line on Friday morning, according to Reuters.

Pelosi while in Japan on Friday, the last stop of her Asia tour, said "The Chinese made their strikes, probably using our visit as an excuse." She added: "They may try to keep Taiwan from visiting or participating in other places but they will not isolate Taiwan. They are not doing our traveling schedule, the Chinese government is not doing that."

She then underscored the US won't let China isolate Taiwan, stressing, "We had high-level visits, senators in the spring, the bi-partisan way, continuing visits, and we will not allow them to isolate Taiwan."

This is similar to US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby's assessment given Thursday, wherein he charged Beijing with overreacting. "We condemn these actions, which are irresponsible and at odds with our long-standing goal of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the region," Kirby told reporters at a White House briefing. "China has chosen to overreact and use the speaker's visit as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait."

China Sanctions Pelosi, Halts US Talks Including Military Ties, As Jets Breach Taiwan Median Line | ZeroHedge
 

Housecarl

On TB every waking moment
China Boasts of Ability to Blockade Taiwan as Military Exercises Continue; Beijing highlights unprecedented operation against self-ruled island in response to Pelosi visit

Friday, August 5, 2022, 9:39 AM ET
By Wenxin Fan in Hong Kong and Joyu Wang in Taipei
Wall Street Journal

China touted its military exercises around Taiwan as proof of its ability to blockade the self-ruled island in the event of a war, as the operations in response to a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi entered a second day.

At least 68 Chinese warplanes and 13 warships carried out maneuvers off Taiwan’s coast on Friday, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said. During the operation, some of the aircraft and ships sent by China’s military crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait, a notional boundary that Taipei says demarcates areas of de facto control, the ministry said.

The flurry of military sorties Beijing flew Friday—setting a record of such activity since Taiwan’s military began disclosing the data in September 2020—came after China encircled Taiwan with rocket and ballistic-missile fire a day earlier. The four-day exercises have been described as unprecedented by Chinese military experts and state media. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Cambodia for a regional meeting, said they were a “significant escalation.”

Chinese forces carried out live firing in six delineated zones facing Taiwan’s military bases and its biggest commercial ports, allowing China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army, to form a blockade around the island for the first time, a breakthrough highlighted by state media outlets in Beijing. The areas overlap with what Taiwan claims as its territorial waters.

Maj. Gen. Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University, told China’s state broadcaster that the PLA launched missiles over the main island of Taiwan on Thursday, the first time the military has done so. Gen. Meng didn’t specify how many were fired, but said they passed over an area where Taiwan stations Patriot antimissile batteries, and which is monitored by the U.S. Navy. Taiwan said Beijing fired 11 ballistic missiles near the island.

The exercises simulated an actual war, Gen. Meng said, with China demonstrating the precision and mobility of weaponry that can now blanket the whole island.

“We can say that we have the ability to switch the exercise into a real war at any point,” he said.


It was also the first occasion that Chinese aircraft carriers joined an exercise in a group formation, Gen. Meng said. Two of China’s carriers, the Liaoning and the Shandong, were training together earlier this week before Mrs. Pelosi’s arrival in Taiwan, which coincided with the 95th anniversary of the founding of the PLA. The whereabouts of the carriers couldn’t be determined.

The White House, meanwhile, announced that the USS Ronald Reagan carrier and its accompanying ships would remain in the region to monitor the situation. The White House also summoned Chinese ambassador Qin Gang.

“We made clear to the ambassador that Beijing’s actions are of concern to Taiwan, to us, and to our partners around the world,” White House spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Friday.

On Thursday afternoon, the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command said it had successfully completed all live-fire operations in the waters off the east of Taiwan, lifting traffic controls in the area. By late Friday, it said the second day of drills had been carried out as planned. The state broadcaster aired footage showing flying jet fighters and cruising warships but with no images of live fire included.

More than 200 vessels that regularly navigate the waters around Taiwan have moved out from the six zones. Only a handful of vessels were still sailing in those zones on Friday, from an average 240 a day over the past week, Lloyd’s List Intelligence data show. The Taiwan Strait is a major shipping route, with about half of the global container fleet and 90% of the world’s largest ships by tonnage crossing the waterway last year.

Kaohsiung and Keelung, Taiwan’s two biggest ports, are still open for business, but ship arrivals have fallen by a quarter over the past two days, the data show
.

While the general mood in Taiwan remained calm after the end of Thursday’s exercises, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen called on Beijing to act with reason and restraint.

“Taiwan will not escalate conflict, but we will resolutely defend our sovereignty, our security and our democracy,” she said in a video released Thursday.

On Friday, a prominent figure in Taiwan’s world-leading semiconductor industry announced a donation equivalent to $100 million to promote the island’s civil defense and combat China’s psychological warfare.

Robert Tsao, founder of United Microelectronics Corp., or UMC, said that there were people in Taiwan who wouldn’t be compromised by the lure of Beijing’s economic might or intimidated by its military strength. He urged more people to come to the island’s defense.

UMC, a Taiwanese chip maker that also operates two fabrication plants in China, referred a request for comment to Mr. Tsao himself, without elaborating further. Mr. Tsao remains honorary chairman of UMC after his retirement and isn’t involved with the company’s day-to-day operations.

On Friday afternoon, China said that it was suspending climate-change talks with the U.S. and scrapping some military exchanges in response to Mrs. Pelosi’s visit. The countermeasures include the cancellation of calls between military leaders and two security meetings, and the suspension of cooperation in fighting crime. It also announced sanctions against Mrs. Pelosi and her immediate family.

Visiting Japan on the last leg of her Asia tour, Mrs. Pelosi said Beijing probably saw her visit as an opportunity to conduct the exercises and said the U.S. would continue engaging with Taiwan despite criticism from China.

“We will not allow them to isolate Taiwan,” she said at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.

By visiting Taiwan, Mrs. Pelosi had defied repeated warnings from Beijing. The U.S. Air Force plane carrying her delegation from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Taipei took a three-hour detour, flying over Indonesia and the Philippines before landing in Taipei.

Gen. Meng, the Chinese military expert, told China’s state broadcaster that the circuitous route was a response to the deterrent effect created by China’s deployment around Taiwan.

He said the PLA had followed Mrs. Pelosi’s flight to Taiwan, keeping it under surveillance during the journey. He didn’t say whether Chinese warplanes had physically shadowed her plane.

Write to Wenxin Fan at Wenxin.Fan@wsj.com and Joyu Wang at joyu.wang@wsj.com

China Boasts of Ability to Blockade Taiwan as Military Exercises Continue - WSJ

Cutting the PRC off from food and oil deliveries in kind would be a pretty simple matter, just ask the Japanese. Of course that would only come into effect if it is no longer an "exercise".
 

northern watch

TB Fanatic
"It's time to fight together and unravel it": China ends communications with THE US & upgrades the strategic relationship with Russia – Shipyards catch fire
By Vassilis Kapoulas
05/08/2022 - 15:23
War News 24 / 7

Towards global change: Russia has requested military assistance from China – US openly threatens Beijing


China is beginning cutting bridges of communication with Washington as it announced it was halting cooperation with the United States in a number of areas, including dialogue between top military commanders.
According to Beijing's announcement, the first list include

Cancelled:

  1. Talks between military officials of a certain level
  2. The meetings between officials of the defense ministries of the two countries
  3. The China-US Maritime Security Mechanism
  4. Working with Washington to prevent cross-border crime
  5. Cooperation against drug trafficking
  6. Cooperation in the repatriation of illegal immigrants.
  7. Bilateral talks on climate change.
  8. China-US criminal-judicial cooperation
Earlier, China announced sanctions on the speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, and her close family members in response to her "bad" and "provocative" actions, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced.

China-Russia strategic cooperation will be strengthened

At the same time, Beijing announced plans to strengthen the strategic partnership with Russia following the incident in Taiwan

This was evident during the visit of the head of the Russian diplomatic department, Sergey Lavrov, to Cambodia for negotiations within the framework of ASEAN. In Phnom Penh, Lavrov met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, who noted Russia's adherence to the principles of "One China". The identification of views on what is happening will form the basis for the future strengthening of the strategic partnership between the two countries.

"Beijing stands ready to strengthen the strategic engagement with Russia so that together we can more effectively defend the international system in which the United Nations plays a key role, as well as the order based on the norms of generally accepted international law," said China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Moscow reacted negatively to the visit of the speaker of the US House of Representatives to Taiwan, considering it an "unnecessary provocation". According to Russian diplomats, Washington is thus seeking to divert attention from the internal problems of the United States and the situation in Ukraine.

"For the sake of instantaneous profit, for the sake of momentary circumstance, for the sake of these notorious public relations, domestic and foreign, they are ready to sacrifice everything, including the remnants of their fame," the official spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova stressed on the air of Sputnik radio.

Russian media: "The US showed its teeth..." – It's time to take them out!

Washington has once again managed to prove to the whole world that it has no intention of abandoning the status of "world ruler" and is ready, if necessary, to make use of military force. Us intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign states will continue in the future – despite any protests reported by Russian media and adding:

On the Russian-American front, things happened that were certainly incomparable to the large-scale provocation carried out against China. With the support of aircraft carriers and fighters, Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.

Latest Chinese warning

The visit of a high-ranking lady of Washington to the territory of Taiwan, which is not recognized by almost anyone (including the United States) as a "sovereign state", initially resembled a slap in Beijing. But things have turned out even worse for China. From the outset, Pelosi said from Taipei that "China is a threat to Taiwan and world democracy as a whole." It is obvious that then the United States cannot be 'put aside'.

And then she expressed her intention to meet with the local head of the unrecognized "state" as soon as possible. And by the way, Grandpa Joe has already muttered that he really "respects" Grandma Nancy's decision to go to Taiwan. And this despite the fact that this reckless act almost caused a more dangerous armed fight

The "point of no return" in Russia's relations with the "collective West" passed not on February 24 of this year, but in 2014, after the annexation of Crimea. And this confrontation, which has almost turned into an open war, will continue until our complete victory.

Ukraine, Taiwan, Serbia, the Middle East are just different fronts of this war. It was no coincidence that N.Pelosi welcomed a crowd of madmen in yellow-black masks to Taipei. And Pavel Klimkin, the former secretary of state of the "independent" country, with great passion, painted his "vision" of this lady's journey as a conscious show of strength on the part of the United States:

The United States showed its teeth twice: it eliminated the leader of al-Qaeda and paid a visit by the president of the US Congress to Taiwan. These teeth looked good in the Kremlin. The message is very simple: we are not afraid of anyone and we will destroy all those who threaten the security of the United States...

"We'll do it! Because we can and there will be no impact on it!" Sooner or later they will try to kill everyone who is considered a "threat".

It is time for Moscow and Beijing to finally understand that this will inevitably happen, unless after the next "tooth show" these same teeth are thinned enough. Even they can be completely uprooted.

Russia and China are forced to turn into major naval powers

The Russians go on to stress the need to update the naval doctrine for both Russia and China.

"The great achievements of the Chinese fleet of Admiral Zheng He remained for a long time in the history of the Ming dynasty. However, in the 21st century, Beijing had to accelerate the construction of warships and submarines.

The width of the Taiwan Strait at its narrowest point is 130 kilometers. To overcome this short distance and return the rebellious island ruled by a pro-Western regime, aviation and a strong navy with numerous landing ships and minesweepers are required to clear the water area.

In addition, there is the strategically important Strait of Malacca, which connects the Pacific Ocean with the Indian Ocean, if it is blockaded by the combined navies of the Anglo-Saxon Bloc AUKUS, China will have a problem. It therefore needs an even more powerful fleet of aircraft carriers, which it builds with enviable perseverance and speed. In addition, China still has many territorial disputes with all its neighbors in the Region of Southeast Asia.

We remind you that the Strait of Malakka is a narrow sea area, 805km long between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is one of the most central points of the planet and the main ferry route between the Indian and Pacific, connecting the economies of China, South Korea and Japan with India and Pakistan.

So it turns out that the "great land power" China must build and maintain a huge merchant and navy.


Updated Maritime Doctrine

Another "great continental power" Russia, oddly enough, has similar problems. So, for example, it would be nice to carry out a landing operation near Odessa to take control of this strategically important city. We even have our own "unsinkable aircraft carrier" in Crimea , just like China has in the Taiwan Strait. However, there is no landing fleet in the Black Sea, capable of carrying out such an operation in the face of harpoon and neptune anti-ship missiles.

Russia also has its own "Malakka" – the Kuril Islands, located at a considerable distance from the main forces of the region, where objectively the adversaries dominate, the Japanese Naval Self-Defense Force, which dreams of taking the "northern territories" and the US navy.

In addition, to feed the settlements located from Murmansk in the Bering Strait, sea transport is used. It is impossible to supply the far eastern islands, Sakhalin and Kurilas by any means other than sea transport. It is also worth mentioning the Kaliningrad region, which, after the imposition of Western sanctions, has de facto turned into an "island". The life and economy of the enclave are associated with maritime trade with the most important cities of Russia, St. Petersburg, Ust-Luga, Rostov-on-Don, Novorossiysk, Vladivostok and others.

Even the deep land-based cities of Zelenodolsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Komsomolsk-on-Amur are closely connected to the sea, since it is there that ships and submarines have been built or are being built. Through seaports, Russian grain, coal, other natural resources, metallurgy and oil refining products, etc. are exported. Also, products from the countries of Central Asia pass through our ports. Imports from China and other countries are returned in containers by sea to Russia.

Separately, it is worth noting the increased role of maritime trade in the matter of Russian oil exports. After the imposition of an embargo on its purchase by the countries of the collective West, it was necessary to urgently seek sales in Southeast Asia. India has become the largest alternative buyer of domestic oil products, which takes Russian oil at a discount. Since there are no main pipelines to India and are not expected, these export flows are also made by sea.

We face similar problems in the gas market. Europe intends to significantly reduce the consumption of Russian blue fuel. The only logical alternative is the construction of new gas liquefaction plants and its shipment to the Southeast Asian market by sea with LNG tankers. But the export of oil and LNG requires a suitable fleet of tankers.

In other words, Russia is not in principle a "land power", and the importance of maritime trade for us will constantly increase. This means that our country needs its own powerful navy capable of protecting the interests of the Russian Federation in the oceans. Otherwise, we will face the same problems that China has.

This is an objective reality that was recently personally recorded by President Vladimir Putin in the updated Maritime Doctrine,"
the Russians conclude.

On the path of confrontation...

"It's time to fight together and unravel it": China ends communications with the US & upgrades the strategic relationship with Russia - The shipyards are on fire - WarNews247
 
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Zagdid

Veteran Member
Dumb question, just for the record.

What treaty obligation do we have that would compel us to defend Taiwan using U.S. military forces?

The United States Factor in Taiwan’s Security

(snip)
Reliance on the United States has been the constant element of Taiwan’s security strategy. The Taiwan Relations Act provided Taipei confidence in the United States even after the termination of the U.S.-ROC mutual defense treaty. On the American side of the coin, concern for Taiwan’s security has lasted through several administrations due to the political support Taiwan enjoys in the United States and the knowledge that Asian allies and partners treat Taiwan as a larger litmus test of U.S. resolve. Finally, Beijing was long discouraged from attacking Taiwan because of the risk that capable U.S. armed forces would intervene to protect Taiwan.

Washington does not, however, explicitly commit itself to Taiwan’s defense. To do so would only unnecessarily complicate relations with China. Instead U.S. officials cite the Taiwan Relations Act, speak in general terms about Washington’s “abiding interest” in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and reiterate opposition to either side’s unilaterally changing the status quo—without saying how the United States would respond to such an attempt. Despite the ambiguity of public American rhetoric, the capabilities that the PRC has acquired to complicate any U.S. intervention suggest that it assumes the United States will in fact act to defend Taiwan. Beijing looks at both American words and deeds to assess its intentions.

 
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