Tag: Taiwan

Beijing issues deadliest war warning yet as China declares it is now ‘ready to defeat’ US

Oli Smith – May 15, 2021

CHINA has issued its deadliest warning yet as Beijing warned that the US will be “defeated” if the two superpowers go to war amid a tense stand-off over the South China Sea and Taiwan.

China has pledged to rapidly defeat the US in a military conflict in one of the country’s most explicit warnings yet. China’s Global Times, which is seen as a Government news outlet, published an editorial revealing the threat in response to joint military drills carried out by the US. The US joined drills with Japan, Australia and France this week in an intended show of force against Beijing.

However, instead of backing down, China appears to have been rattled, prompting a fierce rebuke in Beijing’s state-run newspapers asserting confidence in Chinese military superiority.

RT America’s Alex Mihailovich said: “The Global Times put out an editorial saying the US would be defeated if any conflict broke out in the South China Sea.

“Many see the drills as a show of force aimed at China as Japan works towards consolidating military alliances in an effort to deter its neighboring superpower

“However the drills appeared to irritate China rather than contain it.”

He continued: “According to the Global Times editorial, the US will be defeated if it engages in combat with China in its neighboring waters.”

https://www.express.co.uk

Chinese Defense Ministry to Taiwan: ‘Independence Means War’

Gabrielle Reyes – January 28, 2021

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will take all necessary measures to “crush” efforts supporting Taiwanese sovereignty because “Taiwan independence means war,” a spokesman for China’s Ministry of National Defense said Thursday.

Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said a “handful” of people in Taiwan are seeking the island’s independence at a monthly news briefing on January 28.

“We warn those ‘Taiwan independence’ elements: those who play with fire will burn themselves, and ‘Taiwan independence’ means war,” Wu said.

The U.S. Navy deployed its Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group to sail through the South China Sea near Taiwan last weekend in an action supporting “freedom of the seas.” Shortly afterward, China’s air force responded by deploying eight bombers, four fighter jets, and one anti-submarine warfare plane to cross into Taiwan’s southwestern Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). China’s PLA has ordered such air sorties more than 100 times since mid-September in an effort to intimidate the sovereign island, which Beijing considers a renegade territory.

When reported asked him Thursday about China’s most recent air force activity near Taiwan on January 23, Wu responded: “The military activities carried out by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in the Taiwan Strait are necessary actions to address the current security situation in the Taiwan Strait and to safeguard national sovereignty and security.”

“They are a solemn response to external interference and provocations by ‘Taiwan independence’ forces,” he added.

“Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory, and the Taiwan question falls under China’s internal affairs and brooks no interference from any external forces,” China’s defense ministry spokesman said.

In reality, Taiwan has been a sovereign state for decades, with its own governmental structure, military, and society.

https://www.breitbart.com

China Media Says Risk of War With Taiwan Rising, Despite President’s Conciliatory Speech

– October 12, 2020

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said Saturday that the island democracy is strengthening its defenses against a potential Chinese invasion, but also called for “meaningful dialogue” with Beijing, which claims the country as its own territory.

Tsai—leader of the pro-independence, liberal Democratic Progressive Party and re-elected for a second term in January—took a soft, conciliatory tone in her speech to mark Taiwan’s National Day. The address came after a month of Chinese military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, which separates the two countries.

But Chinese state-backed media was dismissive of Tsai’s appeal to diplomacy, with the nationalistic Global Times newspaper leading the criticism. The newspaper said Tsai had tried to “fool” the world with her speech, and declared that the risk of war has risen “sharply” in recent months.

The Chinese Communist Party claims ownership of Taiwan under its “One China” policy, and has vowed to take control of the island by force if diplomatic means fail. Taiwan—officially called the Republic of China—has been independent since the end of the Chinese Civil War as the last bastion of the defeated nationalist forces.

But Global Times—owned by the People’s Daily newspaper, which is the official publication of the CCP—said the regional situation “has been seriously deteriorating” in an editorial published Sunday.

Global Times accused Tsai of “utilizing the idea of facilitating dialogue as an ‘olive branch’ as a delaying tactic, attempting to deceive the international community for sympathy,” and dismissed her administration as “a gaggle of opportunistic politicians.”

https://www.newsweek.com

China Threatens War If Taiwan Resumes Diplomatic Ties With US

Theodore Bunker – October 07, 2020

China should “fully prepare itself for war” with Taiwan if the country resumes diplomatic ties with the United States, according to the editor-in-chief of China’s state-owned news tabloid the Global Times.

Hu Xijin wrote in an opinion piece on Tuesday that legislators in the Taiwanese Kuomintang Party, or KMT, “have woken up on the wrong side of the bed. They have gone downhill and become vulgar. They would do anything to just get rid of their political passivity on the island of Taiwan. They are losers.”

He adds, “We must no longer hold any more illusions. The only way forward is for the mainland to fully prepare itself for war and to give Taiwan secessionist forces a decisive punishment at any time. As the secessionist forces’ arrogance continues to swell, the historical turning point is getting closer.”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is currently touring Asia and recently told the Nikkei Asian Review in Japan that “the United States will be a good partner for security in every dimension” when asked if the U.S. would intervene if China attacked Taiwan.

“We’ve only come to recognize that appeasement’s not the answer,” he said. “If one bends the knee each time the Chinese Communist Party takes action around the world, one will find themselves having to bend the knee with great frequency.”

https://www.newsmax.com

Taiwan says threat of military clash with China is ‘on the rise’

Gerry Shih – July 22, 2020

TAIPEI, Taiwan – The prospect of a military clash in the Taiwan Strait is rising precariously, the Taiwanese foreign minister warned Wednesday, urging “extreme caution” in the island’s dealings with a Chinese leadership in Beijing that he described as both increasingly emboldened and insecure.

The Chinese military has held a growing number of exercises that simulate an invasion of Taiwan, a self-ruled island about 80 miles off China’s east coast that considers the United States its main military and diplomatic backer. The pace and scale of China’s drills, as well as those of U.S. naval and air forces deployed to the region, have risen in recent months as relations between Beijing and Washington plummet on numerous fronts.

Relations took another sharp turn Wednesday after the State Department said it ordered China to close its consulate in Houston.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said this week the United States would sell more arms to Taiwan as part of a $10 billion deal approved by Congress. He also said the U.S. military would reposition forces across Asia to prepare for a confrontation with China in flash points including self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its territory and has vowed for decades to take by force, if necessary. Inside China, the government has faced growing calls from hawkish military pundits and nationalist commentators to grasp the current strategic window to seize Taiwan, an accomplishment that could rally the Chinese population and burnish leader Xi Jinping’s political legacy.

Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said Wednesday he was worried China has conducted an “unprecedented” number of sea and air drills around Taiwan in 2020, with the pace rising to nearly once every day since June. “The threat is on the rise,” he said.

https://www.thehour.com

Taiwan Holds Drills to Beat Back Chinese Invasion

TruNews – July 16, 2020

Taiwan’s military held a joint air-sea-land live-fire exercise today aimed at simulating the repulsion of an invading Chinese force.

Approximately 8,000 personnel participated in the annual Han Kuang drills, which included American-made F-16 and domestically produced Ching-kuo fighter jets, and tanks. They defended a small strip of coastal land near Taichung.

Afterward, President Tsai Ing-wen praised the military, saying it had proved its determination to defend the island nation:

“The Han Kuang exercises are a major annual event for the armed forces, evaluating development of combat abilities. Even more, it lets the world see our determination and efforts to defend the country’s territory.

“As I have said, national security does not rely on bowing and sraping but on solid national defense. All our officers and soldiers are the core of that.”

She also expressed “grievous pain” over the death of two officers who were killed in a helicopter crash during a combat-readiness mission connected to the Han Kuang exercises. The officers’ helicopter crashed after catching on fire.

Tsai also vowed to continue to reform the Taiwanese military.

https://www.trunews.com