WAR CHINA THREATENS TO INVADE TAIWAN

[jward]

no warm fuzzies recieved from this bit o' news.

---

Taiwan defense ministry prepares practical changes to mobilization law​

List of students from age of 16 only to be used in emergency​

By Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
2023/02/28 15:58

[IMG alt="The Ministry of National Defense is preparing amendments to mobilization laws.
"]https://tnimage.s3.hicloud.net.tw/photos/2023/02/28/1677570482-63fdb1b2b905a.jpg[/IMG]

The Ministry of National Defense is preparing amendments to mobilization laws. (CNA photo)


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of National Defense said Tuesday (Feb. 28) that a proposed name list of all men and women from the age of 16 would only be used during times of emergency.

The drawing up of the list was reportedly one of the provisions set for a proposed reworking of the All-out Defense Mobilization Readiness Act, per CNA. According to a UDN report, the Ministry of Education (MOE) in February invited local education officials to discuss mobilization plans for all male and female students from the age of 16, even including them in rescue and ammunition production operations.

However, military officials said the name lists were already in existence, with the only change now being that they would be moved online into a cloud network for more practical consultation.

The Ministry of National Defense emphasized Tuesday that the act, introduced in 2001, had been amended twice, in 2014 and 2019, but that the emphasis was too much on preparations and not enough on practical issues once mobilization had been declared.

All sectors of society should be aware of how many people could be mobilized in an emergency situation, and how they could be used effectively to prevent a successful enemy invasion, the military said. During the preparation of the amendments, the military would consult public opinion and adapt its proposals before submitting them to the Cabinet.

The common aim of the amendments was to protect the nation’s security, the military said, calling on the media and the public to focus on rational discussions and not to distort the law’s intentions.

posted for fair use

Taiwan defense ministry prepares practical changes to mobilization law | Taiwan News | 2023-02-28 15:58:00

List of students from age of 16 only to be used in emergency | 2023-02-28 15:58:00

www.taiwannews.com.tw

 

[Housecarl]

no warm fuzzies recieved from this bit o' news.

---

Taiwan defense ministry prepares practical changes to mobilization law​

List of students from age of 16 only to be used in emergency​

By Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
2023/02/28 15:58

[IMG alt="The Ministry of National Defense is preparing amendments to mobilization laws.
"]https://tnimage.s3.hicloud.net.tw/photos/2023/02/28/1677570482-63fdb1b2b905a.jpg[/IMG]

The Ministry of National Defense is preparing amendments to mobilization laws. (CNA photo)


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of National Defense said Tuesday (Feb. 28) that a proposed name list of all men and women from the age of 16 would only be used during times of emergency.

The drawing up of the list was reportedly one of the provisions set for a proposed reworking of the All-out Defense Mobilization Readiness Act, per CNA. According to a UDN report, the Ministry of Education (MOE) in February invited local education officials to discuss mobilization plans for all male and female students from the age of 16, even including them in rescue and ammunition production operations.

However, military officials said the name lists were already in existence, with the only change now being that they would be moved online into a cloud network for more practical consultation.

The Ministry of National Defense emphasized Tuesday that the act, introduced in 2001, had been amended twice, in 2014 and 2019, but that the emphasis was too much on preparations and not enough on practical issues once mobilization had been declared.

All sectors of society should be aware of how many people could be mobilized in an emergency situation, and how they could be used effectively to prevent a successful enemy invasion, the military said. During the preparation of the amendments, the military would consult public opinion and adapt its proposals before submitting them to the Cabinet.

The common aim of the amendments was to protect the nation’s security, the military said, calling on the media and the public to focus on rational discussions and not to distort the law’s intentions.

posted for fair use

Taiwan defense ministry prepares practical changes to mobilization law | Taiwan News | 2023-02-28 15:58:00

List of students from age of 16 only to be used in emergency | 2023-02-28 15:58:00

www.taiwannews.com.tw

As I've said before, about the only way short of getting their own nukes to dissuade the CCP would be for Taiwan to go with the Cold War version or the "Swiss System". Culturally and politically that would likely be too steep of a hill for TPTB on the island.

 

[jward]

japantimes.co.jp

Japan and Australia may conduct South China Sea patrols with U.S. and Philippines, ambassador says​

Karen Lema​

---

MANILA – The Philippines is in talks to possibly include Australia and Japan in planned joint South China Sea patrols with the United States, a senior diplomat said on Monday, in another sign of concern over Beijing's activities in the strategic waters.

"Meetings have already been set and probably we may have the Japanese and the Australians join in," Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez said.
"They would like to join in for joint patrols to make sure that there's the code of conduct and there's freedom of navigation," adding it was still "an idea under discussion."

If the plan materializes, it will be the first time the Philippines has joined multilateral maritime patrols in the South China Sea, a move that would likely anger Beijing, which claims most of the sea as its territory.
The foreign ministries of Australia and Japan and the embassies of the United States and China in Manila did not immediately respond to separate requests for comment.

The patrol talks and renewed engagement with the United States underscore how much Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has realigned his country with its historic ally, moving away from predecessor Rodrigo Duterte's hostile approach to Washington while still pursuing close economic engagement with regional powerhouse China.
Australia and the United States have separately been discussing joint patrols with the Philippines, amid concerns about China's assertiveness in the South China Sea, through which about $3.4 trillion (¥463.3 trillion) of commerce passes each year.
The United States, Japan and Australia have been conducting trilateral naval exercises, and joint patrols with those countries would be "good for the Philippines and for the entire area," Romualdez said, adding: "We want to have freedom of navigation."

'These are our allies'​

The patrols "could be initially country-to-country" and expanded eventually "because these are our allies, like-minded countries," he said.
The prospect of a four-country bloc patrolling together in the waters would send a unified message to China, which maintains a constant presence of hundreds of vessels across the South China Sea to assert its claims.
China is accused by some Southeast Asian neighbors of deploying its coast guard and a maritime militia to bully their fishermen and disrupt resupply missions and energy exploration. China maintains it is protecting its historic territory.
Crew members signal to a U.S. fighter jet preparing to take off for a routine deployment in the South China Sea in January | REUTERS
"For the Philippines, it allows us an alternative partner to counter China aside from U.S.," Rommel Jude Ong, former vice commander of the Philippine Navy, said of the prospect of patrols.

"Whether we like it or not, we need to calibrate our activities with the U.S. also to make sure we do not get drawn to issues that solely reside between the U.S. and China."
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles last week said Australia wanted to expand its bilateral defense relationship with the Philippines and joint patrols were "the next step."
Japan, Australia and the United States are among dozens of countries that recognize a landmark arbitration case in 2016 won by the Philippines that invalidated China's expansive territorial claim.
Beijing does not recognize the ruling. It says it respects freedom of navigation but opposes actions that undermine what it considers its sovereignty.

'Extremely pleased'​

With some overlapping maritime claims, the Philippines has been ramping up rhetoric to challenge what it calls illegal Chinese activities in its exclusive economic zone.
It has made 77 complaints to China since Marcos took office in June last year. This month, he summoned the Chinese ambassador, concerned about "aggressive" Chinese maritime actions.
"Washington is extremely pleased that the Philippines is taking a stronger stand in its territorial rights," added Ambassador Romualdez, who is relative of Marcos.

The move is a stark departure from predecessor Duterte's open disdain for the United States and efforts to appease China. Duterte was widely criticized for being reluctant to press China to abide by the arbitration ruling, concerned it could hurt investment.
Marcos on Monday described the South China Sea issue as "the most complicated geopolitical situation in the world."
"There was a time where we did not have to worry about these threats and the intensification of the competition between the superpowers," he said in a speech to soldiers.

Early this month, Marcos granted the United States greater access to Philippine military bases by adding four more sites, on top of five existing locations, under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), an agreement predecessor Duterte had threatened to scrap.
EDCA allows U.S. access to Philippine bases for joint training, pre-positioning of equipment and building of facilities such as runways, fuel storage and military housing, but not a permanent presence.
Romualdez, who was also ambassador under Duterte, said recent developments showed "the relationship between the United States and the Philippines today is definitely at its best."

Japan and Australia may conduct South China Sea patrols with U.S. and Philippines, ambassador says

If the plan materializes, it will be the first time the Philippines has joined multilateral maritime patrols in the South China Sea, a move that would likely anger Beijing.

www.japantimes.co.jp

 

[danielboon]

Taiwan says 25 Chinese planes, 3 ships sent toward island​

today

FILE - Two soldiers lower the national flag during the daily flag ceremony on Liberty Square of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, July 30, 2022. China sent 25 warplanes and three warships toward Taiwan on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, the island's Defense Ministry said, as tensions remain high between Beijing and Taipei's main backer Washington. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying, File)

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China sent 25 warplanes and three warships toward Taiwan on Wednesday morning, the island’s Defense Ministry said, as tensions remain high between Beijing and Taipei’s main backer Washington.
The ministry said 19 of those planes crossed into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone while the ships were continuing to operate in the Taiwan Strait. It said Taiwan responded by scrambling fighters, dispatching ships and activating coastal missile defense systems to “closely monitor and respond.”
China stages such incursions on a near-daily basis, part of what are termed “gray zone” tactics, aimed at intimidation and wearing down Taiwan’s equipment, exhausting its personnel and degrading public morale. Those also include cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns, along with a relentless drive to deprive Taiwan of diplomatic allies.
Taiwan has responded by upgrading its fleet of F-16 fighter jets and ordering 66 more of the planes from the U.S., while purchasing a range of other weaponry and extending its mandatory term of military service for all males from four months to one year.

Relations between Beijing and Washington, Taiwan’s primary ally and source of defensive weaponry, have spiraled over China’s actions toward the island, trade, technology and the South China Sea.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a visit to Beijing last month after the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the U.S. east coast, drawing furious protests from China.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary, and has been rapidly expanding its military to meet that challenge should it arise.
In memos and testimony, top U.S. officers have called for heightened preparations, saying China sees a shrinking window for action and may move on Taiwan within a few years.
China says it prefers peaceful unification between the sides, but the Taiwanese public overwhelmingly favors the current state of de-facto independence.
Wednesday’s incursions were relatively modest by recent standards. During China’s National Day weekend in 2021, Beijing dispatched 149 military aircraft southwest of Taiwan in strike group formations. In August, in response to a trip to Taiwan by then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, China staged war games surrounding the island simulating a blockade and fired missiles over it into the Pacific Ocean.
Along with ordering new hardware from the U.S., Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has been pushing for a revitalization of the domestic defense industry, including producing conventionally powered submarines. Taiwan says 25 Chinese planes, 3 ships sent toward island

 

[jward]

Imee Marcos confronts Galvez on reported EDCA sites near Taiwan Strait | News |​

HANA BORDEY,GMA Integrated News​

---

Published March 1, 2023 9:17pm
Senate foreign relations committee chairperson Imee Marcos on Wednesday confronted officials on the reported establishment of four Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites in Northern Luzon near the Taiwan Strait.
"Are we talking about the escalating tensions in the Taiwan Strait as the number one issue?" Marcos asked at a Senate briefing on the new EDCA sites.
According to Marcos, two new EDCA sites will be established in Cagayan, one in Isabela, and in Zambales.
"It clearly indicates that this is the first line in the Taiwan attacks that are projected. Is that correct?" Marcos asked Defense officer-in-charge Carlito Galvez Jr.
"I just need to understand why are you choosing all these sites in Northern Luzon when in fact if it were West Philippine Sea deterrence that were uppermost in our minds, the protection of our territorial sovereignty, surely it should be in the western sector not purely in the northern," Marcos went on.

Other Stories​

In response, Galvez said the four sites are still in negotiation.
"We might change the locations depending on the agreement that we are having in the security sector," he said.
When asked to confirm the four new EDCA sites in Northern Luzon, Galvez said "it is still unidentified location."
During the discussion on the new EDCA sites, Galvez said they just agreed on the numbers and not on the actual sites.
When they came up with the number of new EDCA sites, Galvez said they need to follow some criteria, such as sites that can cater to Balikatan exercises.
But Marcos is not satisfied with Galvez's explanation.
"Nag-shift na po ba tayo at hindi na yung territorial integrity kundi yung escalation ng tension sa Taiwan Straits ang ating tinutumbok nito?" Marcos asked.

Galvez said he cannot categorically answer the question.
At the latter part of the hearing, Marcos also noted that the Balikatan exercises "suddenly shifted" to Northern Luzon.
"Gentlemen, what is our fight with Taiwan? What is our fight with Taiwan? I don't understand. So why are we doing all the military exercises in Northern Luzon-- a stone's throw or at least a boat ride away from Taiwan," Marcos said.
"Then clearly, the new expanded EDCA is addressing the escalation of tensions in the Taiwan Straits, not Philippine interest in the West Philippine Sea. We are therefore going to fight for another country, the United States? Is that correct, sir?" she went on.

Galvez said they look at the totality of the country's complete preparedness to collective defense and disasters considering that the Philippines is the most vulnerable in climate change.
He further explained that the Balikatan exercises are being done annually and rotationally in different regions.
"The reason why we choose the northern part for Balikatan exercises because...our preparation for disaster is very significant considering that we have seen a lot of typhoons, a lot of flooding, a lot of earthquakes happening in the country," he said.
In the same hearing, Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba reiterated his opposition to the possible creation of EDCA sites in the province.
Mamba said the Armed Forces of the Philippines provides an efficient disaster responses to areas in need.
"Please do not ram into our throats what is not acceptable to us because binobola-bola lang po tayo e. Hindi na po totoo ito," Mamba said.

"China never invaded us, never conquered us. Wala kaming problema sa kanila. Sa totoo lang they are very helpful. I never sought their help during disasters but China came in yung federation of Chinese Chamber nagpapadala ng rice.. During our disaster, they are our neighbors. Please, do not let us tell them that they are our enemies because of the United States of America. Let them have their own war but we can never be an enemy to our neighbor," Mamba said.—LDF, GMA Integrated News

Imee Marcos confronts Galvez on reported EDCA sites near Taiwan Strait

"Gentlemen, what is our fight with Taiwan? What is our fight with Taiwan? I don't understand. So why are we doing all the military exercises in Northern Luzon-- a stone's throw or at least a boat ride away from Taiwan," Marcos said. "Then clearly, the new expanded EDCA is addressing the...

www.gmanetwork.com

 

[jward]

China will target the US homeland in war over Taiwan, Army leader predicts​

Joel Gehrke​

---

February 27, 2023 06:02 PM
China will attack the American homeland if “a major war” erupts over Taiwan or elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. Army’s top civilian expects.

“If we got into a major war with China, the United States homeland would be at risk as well with both kinetic attacks and non-kinetic attacks — whether it's cyberattacks on the power grid or on pipelines,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said Monday at the American Enterprise Institute. “They are going to go after the will of the United States public. They're going to try to erode support for a conflict.”

CIA’S JUDGEMENT IS XI HAS ‘DOUBTS’ ABOUT SUCCESS OF POSSIBLE TAIWAN INVASION

China's People’s Liberation Army forces are not yet prepared to launch an invasion of Taiwan, according to U.S. intelligence and military officials. Yet the “historical trajectory” of their recent military modernization campaign requires U.S. forces to speed up their preparations to deter such an attack, according to the region’s top Army officer.

“The payload of exercises in pathways is really at its zenith here in ’23,” said Gen. Charles Flynn, commander of U.S. Army Pacific, referring to an array of U.S. military exercises in the Indo-Pacific. “This is an important year to get in position [and] create enduring advantage ... so we're ready to do that and our forces are ready today to be able to respond if need be in the event that something goes in the direction we don't want it to go.”

Flynn and Wormuth touted the importance of the U.S. Army in the competition with China, an argument advanced at least in part to urge lawmakers not to forget about the Army in the upcoming spending process. Fiscal fights of the last decade often have forced the federal government to operate a funding mechanism known as a “continuing resolution,” which authorizes federal officials to spend money according to the plans set by previous budgets — a process that, according to Wormuth, has constrained the military’s ability to prepare for the risk of a clash with China.

“It is hard for us to compete effectively and do everything we need to do vis-a-vis the PRC, if, for six months of the year, we, for example, can't have any new starts for programs,” she said.

“Some of the key new weapons systems that the Army is developing will be impacted if we go into an extended continuing resolution. So that is very problematic at a time when everyone is worried about timelines.”

One major new weapons system — long-range hypersonic missiles — will come online in the coming months, the Army secretary added.

“By this fall, we will have our first battery of long-range hypersonic weapons, and that element will be part of our first multi-domain task force,” Wormuth said. “And we're also going to be bringing out the prototype for our mid-range capability, which provides us the opportunity to take out mobile targets at long range.”

China’s military is improving at an alarming rate, in large part due to its land-based missile force.

“They are rehearsing, they are practicing, they are experimenting, and they are preparing those forces for something ... you don't build up that kind of arsenal to just defend and protect, you probably are building that for other purposes,” Flynn said. “I can't go into great detail in here on what's happening on the ground, but I can tell you that the PLA army and the PLA Rocket Force and the strategic support forces are in dangerous positions.”

Yet their “anti-access/area denial” (A2/AD) plan to eject U.S. forces from the region has a major hole, he added.

“The A2/AD arsenal that the Chinese have designed is primarily designed to defeat air and maritime capabilities, and secondarily, it's designed to degrade, disrupt, and deny space and cyber,” he said. “It is not, however, designed to find, fix, and finish mobile, networked, dispersed, reloadable ground forces that are lethal and non-lethal that are operating amongst their allies and partners in the region.”

Still, China’s expected ability to target incoming ships and major bases puts pressure on U.S. forces to stash weapons and supplies in friendly states throughout the region. Pentagon officials enjoyed a breakthrough in early February when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin inked an “enhanced defense cooperation agreement” that expands U.S. military access to the Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally locked in a long-term dispute with China over Beijing’s claim to sovereignty over most of the South China Sea.

“We look forward to talking to the Philippine army about what opportunities are going to be there for us to work with them,” Wormuth said. “There are possibilities with Japan ... there’s a lot we can do with Australia, and again, with the Philippines and the Singaporeans. Now, in those two cases, it would probably be non-lethal equipment that would be there, but that's the kind of thing that we need to be working on.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

For all their growing strengths, Chinese officials may be daunted by the extreme difficulty of launching an invasion across the Taiwan Strait.

“The complexity of a joint island landing campaign is not a small matter,” he said. "And you have to be [an] incredibly professional — well-trained, well-led — force. And they're working on it, but ... they’re not 10 feet tall. They have work to do. And I think that now is the time for us to get into position to be able to deter that event from happening.”

China will target the US homeland in war over Taiwan, Army leader predicts - Washington Examiner

China will attack the American homeland if “a major war” erupts over Taiwan or elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. Army’s top civilian expects.“If we got into a major war with China, the United States homeland would be at risk as well with both kinetic attacks and non-kinetic attacks —...

www.washingtonexaminer.com

 

[jward]

Ben Lewis
@OfficialBen_L

Reports circulating of a significant arms sale to #Taiwan.
Supposedly a large number of AGM-88 and AIM-120 missiles.
Im going to start a thread here for when more information is released.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1631130332622667779

View: https://twitter.com/OfficialBen_L/status/1631130332622667779?s=20

 

[jward]

Reuters Asia
@ReutersAsia
·
3m
US State Department approves potential sale of F-16 munitions to Taiwan- Pentagon US State Department approves potential sale of F-16 munitions to Taiwan- Pentagon

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1631131011625910275

View: https://twitter.com/ReutersAsia/status/1631131011625910275?s=20

 

[Housecarl]

China will target the US homeland in war over Taiwan, Army leader predicts​

Joel Gehrke​

---

February 27, 2023 06:02 PM
China will attack the American homeland if “a major war” erupts over Taiwan or elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. Army’s top civilian expects.

“If we got into a major war with China, the United States homeland would be at risk as well with both kinetic attacks and non-kinetic attacks — whether it's cyberattacks on the power grid or on pipelines,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said Monday at the American Enterprise Institute. “They are going to go after the will of the United States public. They're going to try to erode support for a conflict.”

CIA’S JUDGEMENT IS XI HAS ‘DOUBTS’ ABOUT SUCCESS OF POSSIBLE TAIWAN INVASION

China's People’s Liberation Army forces are not yet prepared to launch an invasion of Taiwan, according to U.S. intelligence and military officials. Yet the “historical trajectory” of their recent military modernization campaign requires U.S. forces to speed up their preparations to deter such an attack, according to the region’s top Army officer.

“The payload of exercises in pathways is really at its zenith here in ’23,” said Gen. Charles Flynn, commander of U.S. Army Pacific, referring to an array of U.S. military exercises in the Indo-Pacific. “This is an important year to get in position [and] create enduring advantage ... so we're ready to do that and our forces are ready today to be able to respond if need be in the event that something goes in the direction we don't want it to go.”

Flynn and Wormuth touted the importance of the U.S. Army in the competition with China, an argument advanced at least in part to urge lawmakers not to forget about the Army in the upcoming spending process. Fiscal fights of the last decade often have forced the federal government to operate a funding mechanism known as a “continuing resolution,” which authorizes federal officials to spend money according to the plans set by previous budgets — a process that, according to Wormuth, has constrained the military’s ability to prepare for the risk of a clash with China.

“It is hard for us to compete effectively and do everything we need to do vis-a-vis the PRC, if, for six months of the year, we, for example, can't have any new starts for programs,” she said.

“Some of the key new weapons systems that the Army is developing will be impacted if we go into an extended continuing resolution. So that is very problematic at a time when everyone is worried about timelines.”

One major new weapons system — long-range hypersonic missiles — will come online in the coming months, the Army secretary added.

“By this fall, we will have our first battery of long-range hypersonic weapons, and that element will be part of our first multi-domain task force,” Wormuth said. “And we're also going to be bringing out the prototype for our mid-range capability, which provides us the opportunity to take out mobile targets at long range.”

China’s military is improving at an alarming rate, in large part due to its land-based missile force.

“They are rehearsing, they are practicing, they are experimenting, and they are preparing those forces for something ... you don't build up that kind of arsenal to just defend and protect, you probably are building that for other purposes,” Flynn said. “I can't go into great detail in here on what's happening on the ground, but I can tell you that the PLA army and the PLA Rocket Force and the strategic support forces are in dangerous positions.”

Yet their “anti-access/area denial” (A2/AD) plan to eject U.S. forces from the region has a major hole, he added.

“The A2/AD arsenal that the Chinese have designed is primarily designed to defeat air and maritime capabilities, and secondarily, it's designed to degrade, disrupt, and deny space and cyber,” he said. “It is not, however, designed to find, fix, and finish mobile, networked, dispersed, reloadable ground forces that are lethal and non-lethal that are operating amongst their allies and partners in the region.”

Still, China’s expected ability to target incoming ships and major bases puts pressure on U.S. forces to stash weapons and supplies in friendly states throughout the region. Pentagon officials enjoyed a breakthrough in early February when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin inked an “enhanced defense cooperation agreement” that expands U.S. military access to the Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally locked in a long-term dispute with China over Beijing’s claim to sovereignty over most of the South China Sea.

“We look forward to talking to the Philippine army about what opportunities are going to be there for us to work with them,” Wormuth said. “There are possibilities with Japan ... there’s a lot we can do with Australia, and again, with the Philippines and the Singaporeans. Now, in those two cases, it would probably be non-lethal equipment that would be there, but that's the kind of thing that we need to be working on.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

For all their growing strengths, Chinese officials may be daunted by the extreme difficulty of launching an invasion across the Taiwan Strait.

“The complexity of a joint island landing campaign is not a small matter,” he said. "And you have to be [an] incredibly professional — well-trained, well-led — force. And they're working on it, but ... they’re not 10 feet tall. They have work to do. And I think that now is the time for us to get into position to be able to deter that event from happening.”

China will target the US homeland in war over Taiwan, Army leader predicts - Washington Examiner

China will attack the American homeland if “a major war” erupts over Taiwan or elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. Army’s top civilian expects.“If we got into a major war with China, the United States homeland would be at risk as well with both kinetic attacks and non-kinetic attacks —...

www.washingtonexaminer.com

So if I could figure this out years ago I guess I should redo my resume.....(Sorry I couldn't help myself)

 

[danielboon]

EndGameWW3

@EndGameWW3
·
6h

Chinese Foreign Ministry: We firmly oppose the United States selling munitions to Taiwan.

 

[danielboon]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1631328830928347139

View: https://twitter.com/EndGameWW3/status/1631328830928347139

 

[jward]

So if I could figure this out years ago I guess I should redo my resume.....(Sorry I couldn't help myself)

Aww, no need to blow yer own horn, tis my job... btw, have I told ya lately how brilliant your assessments are, n how very much I've been learning? :: bats eyes :: you're such a good teacher I can even find Turkiye on the maps no matter how tis spelled. : )

 

[jward]

Jim Stevenson
@VOAStevenson
8m

The prospect of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan - long considered a highly improbable event - has moved to the center of global money managers' risk radars. Investors consider battle plans amid risk of China-Taiwan conflict @japantimes

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1631617976196648960

View: https://twitter.com/VOAStevenson/status/1631617976196648960?s=20

 

[jward]

國防部 Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C.
@MoNDefense
48m

24 PLA aircraft and 4 PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected by 6 a.m.(UTC+8) today. R.O.C. Armed Forces have monitored the situation and tasked CAP airc+raft, Navy vessels, and land-based missile systems to respond these activities.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1631826279250149377

View: https://twitter.com/MoNDefense/status/1631826279250149377?s=20

 

[jward]

reuters.com

Taiwan warns of China's 'repeated provocations'​

3 minute read
March 7, 2023
8:55 AM CST
Last Updated 18 min ago

---

• Summary

• Taiwan says will not allow "repeated provocations" from China
• China warns US not to cross red line on Taiwan
• Taiwan President, US House Speaker plan to meet in US

TAIPEI/BEIJING, March 7 (Reuters) - Taiwan will not allow "repeated provocations" from China, the island's defence minister said on Tuesday, as China's foreign minister said Taiwan was the "first red line" that must not be crossed in Sino-U.S. relations.
Tensions over democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, have spiked over the past three years as Beijing ramps up diplomatic and military pressure to get Taipei to accept Chinese sovereignty.
China staged war games near Taiwan in August to protest the Taipei visit of then U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen plans to meet current House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the United States in coming weeks, two sources told Reuters.

​

Speaking to reporters at parliament, Taiwan Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said he was not aware of a planned meeting between Tsai and McCarthy.

Latest Updates​

• Kyiv vows to send more troops into Bakhmut, seeing chance to break Russian force
• Spotlight on ruthless smugglers, rescue failures after Italy migrant disaster
• Venezuelans struggling to afford food - even if they have access to dollars
• Greece asks others to 'imitate' Vatican return of Parthenon pieces
• Protesting Israeli air force reservists to return to base for dialogue

"The Chinese communists use any reason to send troops," Chiu said. "But we won't just say 'bring it on'. We will take a peaceful and rational approach."
Although it hopes this does not happen, Taiwan's military is prepared to fight, he added.
"If the Chinese communists move again, the armed forces' job is to fight," Chiu said. "We won't allow repeated provocations against us. We can't accept that."
Taiwan's government has not announced a Tsai visit to the United States, which previously she has made as stop-overs on the way to countries which maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Taking lawmakers' questions, Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said it was "inappropriate" to talk about foreign travel arrangements for the president "before there are definite plans".
McCarthy has also not confirmed a meeting with Tsai.

'INTERNAL AFFAIR'​

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said it was "absurd" for U.S. officials to say that Taiwan is not an internal affair of China's.
"The Taiwan question is the core of the core interests of China, the bedrock of the political foundation of China-U.S. relations and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-U.S. relations," he said on the sidelines of China's annual meeting of parliament.
"The United States has unshakable responsibility for causing the Taiwan question."
China will keep working for "peaceful reunification", but reserves the right to take all necessary measures, Qin said.
"No one should ever underestimate the firm resolve strong will and great capability of the Chinese government and people to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity."
Taiwan's government strongly disputes China's territorial claims though has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing, and says only Taiwan's people can decide their future.
One of the sources told Reuters that should the U.S. meeting go forward - likely in April - it did not necessarily rule out McCarthy visiting Taiwan in the future.
Four other sources - including U.S. officials and people with knowledge of the U.S. and Taiwan administrations' thinking - said both sides were deeply uneasy that a future visit by McCarthy would severely increase tensions across the Taiwan Strait at a time when the island is preparing for its own presidential election early next year.

Taiwan warns of China's 'repeated provocations'

Taiwan will not allow "repeated provocations" from China, the island's defence minister said on Tuesday, as China's foreign minister said Taiwan was the "first red line" that must not be crossed in Sino-U.S. relations.

www.reuters.com

 

[danielboon]

Chinese minister warns of conflict unless US changes course​

1 / 10

China Congress​

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang looks on during a press conference held on the sidelines of the annual meeting of China's National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, Tuesday, March 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
2.8k


Tue, March 7, 2023 at 12:42 AM EST·5 min read





BEIJING (AP) — Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang warned Tuesday that Beijing and Washington are headed for “conflict and confrontation” if the U.S. doesn't change course, striking a combative tone at a moment when relations between the rivals are at a historic low.
In his first news conference since taking office late last year, Qin’s harsh language appeared to defy predictions that China might abandon its aggressive “wolf warrior” diplomacy in favor of more moderate rhetoric as the two countries face off over trade and technology, Taiwan, human rights and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Washington's China policy has “entirely deviated from the rational and sound track,” Qin told journalists on the sidelines of the annual meeting of China’s rubber-stamp legislature, when leaders lay out their economic and political priorities for the coming year.
“If the United States does not hit the brake, but continues to speed down the wrong path, no amount of guardrails can prevent derailing and there surely will be conflict and confrontation,” said Qin, whose new position is junior to the Communist Party’s senior foreign policy official, Wang Yi. “Such competition is a reckless gamble, with the stakes being the fundamental interests of the two peoples and even the future of humanity.”
Qin’s comments echoed remarks made by leader Xi Jinping in a speech Monday to legislators.
“Western countries led by the United States have implemented all-round containment, encirclement and suppression of China, which has brought unprecedented grave challenges to our nation’s development,” Xi was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.
In the face of that, China must “remain calm, maintain concentration, strive for progress while maintaining stability, take active actions, unite as one, and dare to fight,” he said.
U.S. officials have grown increasingly worried about China's expansive political and economic goals and the possibility of war over Taiwan — and many officials in Washington have called for the U.S. to make a bigger effort to counter Chinese influence abroad.
In recent weeks, concerns about Chinese spying on the U.S. and Beijing's influence campaigns there have drawn particular concern, and officials from the two countries have frequently traded accusations.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a planned visit to Beijing after Washington shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over American territory. The massive balloon and its payload, including electronics and optics, have been recovered from the ocean floor and are being analyzed by the FBI.
Then last week, China responded with indignation when U.S. officials raised the issue again of whether the COVID-19 pandemic began with a lab leak. The Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. of “politicizing the issue" in an attempt to discredit China.
And the two countries have traded angry words over Taiwan as China has stepped up its diplomatic isolation and military harassment of the self-governing island democracy that it claims as its own territory.
Qin — who briefly served as ambassador to Washington and gained a reputation for his cutting condemnations of China’s critics when he was Foreign Ministry spokesman — touched on all these topics on Tuesday.
He criticized Washington for shooting down the balloon, repeating claims that its appearance in U.S. skies was an accident.
“In this case the United States' perception and views of China are seriously distorted. It regards China as its primary rival and the most consequential geopolitical challenge," Qin said. “This is like the first button in a shirt being put wrong and the result is that the U.S.-China policy has entirely deviated from the rational and sound track."
On Taiwan, Qin called the issue the first red line that must not be crossed. China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. While the U.S. does not advocate for either unification or Taiwan’s formal independence, Washington is obligated by federal law to see that the island has the means to defend itself if attacked.
“The U.S. has unshakable responsibility for causing the Taiwan question,” he said, accusing the U.S. of “disrespecting China's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” by offering the island political backing and furnishing it with defensive weapons in response to Beijing's threat to use force to bring it under Chinese control.
"Why does the U.S. ask China not to provide weapons to Russia, while it keeps selling arms to Taiwan?" Qin asked.
In Taipei, Taiwan's Defense Minister said the armed forces weren't seeking outright conflict with China's military, but nor would they back away in the event of Chinese aircraft or ships entering Taiwanese coastal seas or airspace.
“It is the nation’s armed forces’ duty to mount an appropriate response,” Chiu Kuo-cheng told legislators.
Beijing has also accused the West of “fanning the flames” by providing Ukraine with weaponry to fend off the Russian invasion. China says it has a neutral stance in the war, but has also said it has a “no-limits friendship” with Russia and has refused to criticize Moscow’s invasion — or even refer to it as an invasion.
A Chinese call for a cease-fire in Ukraine that has drawn praise from Russia but dismissals from the West has done nothing to lessen tensions as U.S. officials have repeatedly accused China of considering providing weapons to Moscow for use in the war.
“Efforts for peace talks have been repeatedly undermined. There seems to be an invisible hand pushing for the protraction and escalation of the conflict and using the Ukraine crisis to serve a certain geopolitical agenda,” Qin said.
Qin's news conference came two days after the opening of the yearly meeting of the National People's Congress, a mostly ceremonial body assembled to approve government reports and, this year, a new slate of top-level appointments. That is expected to include a norm-breaking third five-year term as president for Xi, who has eliminated all term limits to allow him to rule indefinitely. Chinese minister warns of conflict unless US changes course

 

[jward]

Taiwan News
@TaiwanNews886

China reportedly approves resolution to make 'Taiwan separatists' kill list China reportedly approves resolution to make 'Taiwan separatists' kill list | Taiwan News | 2023-03-07 11:50:00

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1632965547284631553

View: https://twitter.com/TaiwanNews886/status/1632965547284631553?s=20

 

[jward]

Michael Cruickshank
@MJ_Cruickshank
12m

China's hybrid warfare against Taiwan appears to be escalating, with the severing of undersea internet cables to the outlying Matsu Islands.

---

Chinese ships cut Internet of Taiwan's outlying islands​

A view from an observation deck on Nangan, part of Taiwan's Matsu Islands, on Mar 7, 2023. (Photo: AP/Johnson Lai)

08 Mar 2023 04:13PM (Updated: 08 Mar 2023 04:13PM)
Bookmark


NANGAN, Taiwan: In the past month, bed-and-breakfast owner Chen Yu-lin had to tell his guests that he could not provide them with the Internet.
Others living in Taiwan's Matsu Islands, a group of outlying islands closer to neighbouring China, had to struggle with paying electricity bills, making a doctor's appointment or receiving a package.
For connecting to the outside world, the Matsu Islands' 14,000 residents rely on two submarine Internet cables leading to Taiwan's main island.

The first cable was severed by a Chinese fishing vessel about 50km out at sea. Six days later, on Feb 8, a Chinese cargo ship cut the second, according to Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan's largest service provider and owner of the cables.
The islanders in the meantime were forced to hook up to a limited Internet via microwave radio transmission, a more mature technology, as backup. It means that one could wait hours to send a text. Calls would drop, and videos were unwatchable.
"A lot of tourists would cancel their booking because there's no Internet. Nowadays, the Internet plays a very large role in people's lives," said Chen, who lives in Beigan, one of the archipelago's main residential islands.

For connecting to the outside world, the Matsu Islands' 14,000 residents rely on two submarine Internet cables leading to Taiwan's main island. (Map: AP)

Apart from disrupting lives, the loss of the Internet cables, seemingly innocuous, has huge implications for national security.
As the full-scale invasion of Ukraine has shown, Russia has made taking out Internet infrastructure one of the key parts of its strategy.
Some experts suspect that China may have cut the cables deliberately as part of its harassment of the self-ruled island it considers part of its territory, to be reunited by force if necessary.
China regularly sends warplanes and navy ships toward Taiwan as part of tactics to intimidate the island's democratic government. Concerns about China launching an invasion, and Taiwan's preparedness to withstand it, have increased since the war in Ukraine began.
The cables had been cut a total of 27 times in the past five years, according to Chunghwa Telecom.
Taiwan's coast guard gave chase to the fishing vessel that cut the first cable on Feb 2, but it went back into Chinese waters, according to a person who was briefed on the incident and was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.
So far, the Taiwanese government has not pointed a direct finger at Beijing.
"We can't rule out that China destroyed these on purpose," said Su Tzu-yun, a defence expert at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a government think-tank, citing research which showed that only China and Russia had the technical capabilities to do this.
"Taiwan needs to invest more resources in repairing and protecting the cables."


Internet cables, which can be anywhere between 20mm to 30mm wide, are encased in steel armour in shallow waters where they are more likely to run into ships.
Despite the protection, cables can get cut quite easily by ships and their anchors, or fishing boats using steel nets.
Even so, "this level of breakage is highly unusual for a cable, even in the shallow waters of the Taiwan Strait", said Geoff Huston, chief scientist at the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, a non-profit that manages and distributes Internet resources like IP addresses for the region.

Without a stable Internet, coffee shop owner Chiu Sih-chi said that seeing the doctor for his toddler son's cold became a hassle because first they had to visit the hospital just to get an appointment.
A breakfast shop owner said that she lost thousands of dollars in the past few weeks because she usually takes online orders. Customers would come to her stall expecting the food to be ready when she had not even seen their messages.

Chinese ships cut Internet of Taiwan's outlying islands

NANGAN, Taiwan: In the past month, bed-and-breakfast owner Chen Yu-lin had to tell his guests that he could not provide them with the Internet. Others living in Taiwan's Matsu Islands, a group of outlying islands closer to neighbouring China, had to struggle with paying electricity bills, making...

www.channelnewsasia.com

 

[danielboon]

EndGameWW3

@EndGameWW3
·
51m

McCarthy confirms he will meet with Taiwan president

 

[danielboon]

McCarthy confirms he will meet with Taiwan president​

'China can’t tell me where and when I can go': McCarthy​

1570

By Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
2023/03/08 11:46

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (left), Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. (Facebook, Speaker McCarthy/CNA photos)
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy confirmed that he plans to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) during her trip to the U.S. this year, but he stressed that the meeting does not mean he is ruling out a future trip to Taiwan.
On Tuesday (March 7), the Financial Times cited several sources saying McCarthy agreed with Tsai that it would be better to meet in the U.S. to avoid a repeat of the provocative military maneuvers launched by China after then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit. Bloomberg on Wednesday (March 8) cited McCarthy as confirming he indeed plans to meet with Tsai during her visit to his home state of California.
McCarthy emphasized that his meeting with Tsai, "has nothing to do with my travel, if I would go to Taiwan." He then defiantly added, “China can’t tell me where and when I can go."

Days before former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan last year, McCarthy pledged he would visit if he became house speaker. He then reiterated that vow in February after taking Pelosi's post and had been reportedly preparing to take a bipartisan group of lawmakers with him.
However, the Financial Times on Tuesday cited a Taiwanese official as saying that Tsai had presented McCarthy with, "some intelligence about what the Chinese Communist Party is recently up to and the kinds of threats they pose." The official also referenced China's current domestic turmoil and reportedly described China as "not in a good situation." McCarthy confirms he will meet with Taiwan president | Taiwan News | 2023-03-08 11:46:00

 

[danielboon]

US-Taiwan Business Council urges Washington to provide substantial support for Taiwan's defense​

Rupert Hammond-Chambers says asymmetric defense strategy too limited​

646

By Kelvin Chen, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
2023/03/08 12:27

Taiwan military forces conduct anti-landing drills during the annual Han Kuang military exercises near New Taipei City. (Ministry of National Defense ...

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Washington needs to do more to bolster Taiwan’s defense, U.S.-Taiwan Business Council (USTBC) President Rupert J. Hammond-Chambers said in a USTBC press release issued on Tuesday (March 7).
U.S. military and government officials, as well as lawmakers, have all “expressed a sense of urgency” about the Chinese threat towards Taiwan, but the White House has not acted with the same imperativeness. According to Hammond-Chambers, “General rhetorical support for Taiwan is not enough, nor is the narrowness of security assistance focused solely on a so-called asymmetric approach."
Hammond-Chambers indicated that the proposed Taiwan Policy Act would establish a standard for U.S. interests regarding Taiwan and benefit national security. However, the bill ultimately did not garner enough support due to fear of provoking China.
Hammond-Chambers noted that some of the bill’s security provisions were included in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, but the most impactful Taiwan-related provisions were left out.

The council president believes the Taiwan government is now in a "quandary." It needs to maintain close relations with the U.S., but the Ministry of National Defense, Legislative Yuan, and National Security Council are all concerned about the “asymmetric” approach to defense that is currently applied by Washington.
“The threat that China poses to Taiwan extends beyond a D-Day style attack, but American support for the island apparently does not,” said Hammond-Chambers.
He also added that the White House’s failure to help boost Taiwan’s defense only leaves one winner in this situation: China. Hammond-Chambers asserted, “Their silence on this matter to date is deafening, and it is a good indication that they’re staying out of the way lest any comments end up rallying support for future grants to Taiwan.” US-Taiwan Business Council urges Washington to provide substantial support for Taiwan's defense | Taiwan News | 2023-03-08 12:27:00

 

[mecoastie]

US-Taiwan Business Council urges Washington to provide substantial support for Taiwan's defense​

Rupert Hammond-Chambers says asymmetric defense strategy too limited​

646

By Kelvin Chen, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
2023/03/08 12:27

Taiwan military forces conduct anti-landing drills during the annual Han Kuang military exercises near New Taipei City. (Ministry of National Defense ...

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Washington needs to do more to bolster Taiwan’s defense, U.S.-Taiwan Business Council (USTBC) President Rupert J. Hammond-Chambers said in a USTBC press release issued on Tuesday (March 7).
U.S. military and government officials, as well as lawmakers, have all “expressed a sense of urgency” about the Chinese threat towards Taiwan, but the White House has not acted with the same imperativeness. According to Hammond-Chambers, “General rhetorical support for Taiwan is not enough, nor is the narrowness of security assistance focused solely on a so-called asymmetric approach."
Hammond-Chambers indicated that the proposed Taiwan Policy Act would establish a standard for U.S. interests regarding Taiwan and benefit national security. However, the bill ultimately did not garner enough support due to fear of provoking China.
Hammond-Chambers noted that some of the bill’s security provisions were included in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, but the most impactful Taiwan-related provisions were left out.

The council president believes the Taiwan government is now in a "quandary." It needs to maintain close relations with the U.S., but the Ministry of National Defense, Legislative Yuan, and National Security Council are all concerned about the “asymmetric” approach to defense that is currently applied by Washington.
“The threat that China poses to Taiwan extends beyond a D-Day style attack, but American support for the island apparently does not,” said Hammond-Chambers.
He also added that the White House’s failure to help boost Taiwan’s defense only leaves one winner in this situation: China. Hammond-Chambers asserted, “Their silence on this matter to date is deafening, and it is a good indication that they’re staying out of the way lest any comments end up rallying support for future grants to Taiwan.” US-Taiwan Business Council urges Washington to provide substantial support for Taiwan's defense | Taiwan News | 2023-03-08 12:27:00

Every plane that lands with military equipment departs with chips and chip manufacturing equiupment.

 

[jward]

China ‘utterly committed to unification’ with Taiwan, top US intelligence official says​

Mike Brest

---

The Chinese Communist Party is committed to pursuing reunification with Taiwan even through force, according to U.S. intelligence community leaders.

Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, told lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday that Chinese leader Xi Jinping "has made it quite clear that [reunification] is something that has to happen, and as a consequence, if they believe that peaceful unification is not an option, then they are in the potential for actually trying to achieve it militarily, and they're certainly planning for that potential."

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testifies during a Senate Armed Services Hearing to examine worldwide threats on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 29, 2021.
GRAEME JENNINGS/AP

US HAS 'GROWING CONCERN' OVER CHINA'S RELATIONSHIP WITH RUSSIA

Xi has made it known that he wants the People's Liberation Army, China's military, ready to invade Taiwan by 2027, though U.S. defense officials have insisted in recent weeks that this isn't a guarantee of military action but a goal.

"We continue to assess that, for example, even with respect to Taiwan, that they would prefer to achieve unification for peaceful means as opposed through the use of force," she added. "They nevertheless are utterly committed to unification, and I think that is the challenge."

While the United States doesn't recognize Taiwan diplomatically, the U.S. has consistently provided Taiwan with weapons to defend itself in the event of a China invasion.

Chinese officials announced this week they would be increasing the defense budget by 7.2%, as officials in Beijing are looking to narrow the military gap with the U.S., which still spends almost four times as much on its defense.

Also, earlier this week, Xi blamed the U.S. for struggles in his country in what was a rare public rebuke of the U.S.

“Western countries — led by the U.S. — have implemented all-round containment, encirclement, and suppression against us, bringing unprecedentedly severe challenges to our country’s development,” he said during a Monday speech at the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an arm of the Chinese government’s United Front Work Department.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, until recently China’s ambassador to the U.S., continued to push Xi’s frustrated tone toward the U.S. during a Tuesday press briefing, warning that the two countries were heading down a path that would result in conflict.

"If the United States does not hit the brakes, but continues to speed down the wrong path, no amount of guardrails can prevent derailing, and there will surely be conflict and confrontation,” he said, warning of “catastrophic consequences." He also said U.S. competition with China “is a reckless gamble with the stakes being the fundamental interests of the two peoples and even the future of humanity.”

Haines said Xi's comments were his "most public indirect criticism that we have seen from him to date and probably reflects growing pessimism in Beijing about China's relationship with the United States, as well as Xi's growing worries about the trajectory of China's economic development and indigenous technology, innovation challenges that he now blames on the United States," though she noted that the intelligence community assesses that "Beijing still believes it benefits most by preventing a spiraling of tensions and by preserving stability in its relationship with the United States."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

In line with Haines's assessment, the Department of Defense does not believe China will invade Taiwan imminently, even amid its increasingly aggressive military maneuvers toward Taiwan.

Ely Ratner, the assistant secretary for the Indo-Pacific, said the challenge of deterring a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is “enormous,” though he said there’s a chance China won’t invade this decade.

"The capabilities are growing; the ambition is there. We know that,” he explained. “But what we're doing is reinforcing that deterrence, ensuring that the costs of aggression remain unacceptably high to Beijing. I think we have a pathway to do that through our own development of our own capabilities, revision of our posture, introduction of new operational concepts, and then all of the work we're doing with allies and partners."

The U.S. is preparing for conflict with China. It is boosting Taiwan's military, while the Defense Department is planning to deploy between 100 and 200 troops to Taiwan in the next couple of months, a move that could quadruple its presence of about 30 last year, the Wall Street Journal reported last month, and it has sought to build up its alliances in the region. Also last month, the United States secured access to four more military bases in the Philippines, allowing for additional support for its allies in the region while also increasing Washington's ability to monitor China.

China ‘utterly committed to unification’ with Taiwan, top US intelligence official says

The Chinese Communist Party is committed to pursuing reunification with Taiwan even through force, according to U.S. intelligence community leaders.

www.washingtonexaminer.com

 

[danielboon]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1634635256144842757

View: https://twitter.com/EndGameWW3/status/1634635256144842757

 

[jward]

America and China are preparing for a war over Taiwan
It would spread far across the region, with devastating consequences for the world
A U.S. Air Force 1st Special Operations Squadron loadmaster looks out the back of an MC-130J Commando II, after the completion of a mission over Okinawa, Japan, Feb. 22, 2023. Loadmasters are in charge of securing cargo and personnel during a flight, ensuring safety operations aboard their assigned aircraft. (POLARIS)Credit: Polaris / eyevineFor further information please contact eyevinetel: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709e-mail: info@eyevine.comwww.eyevine.com
Mar 9th 2023 | GUAM, HONOLULU, OKINAWA and TAIPEI

THEIR FACES smeared in green and black, some with Stinger anti-aircraft missiles on their packs, the men of “Darkside”—the 3rd battalion of America’s 4th marine regiment—boarded a pair of Sea Stallion helicopters and clattered away into the nearby jungle. Their commanders followed in more choppers carrying ultralight vehicles and communications gear. Anything superfluous was left behind. No big screens for video links of the sort used in Iraq and Afghanistan: to avoid detection, the marines must make sure their communications blend into the background just as surely as their camouflage blends into the tropical greenery. The goal of the exercise: to disperse around an unnamed island, link up with friendly “green” allies and repel an amphibious invasion by “red” forces.

Ignore the polite abstractions. The marines are training for a war with China, probably precipitated by an invasion of Taiwan. Their base in Okinawa, at the southern end of the Japanese archipelago, is just 600km (370 miles) from Taiwan. The two islands are part of what American military planners call the “first island chain”: a series of archipelagoes and islands, big and small, that stretches from Japan to Malaysia, impeding naval passage from China to the Pacific. Whether by harrying Chinese ships from a distance or—much less likely—by deploying to Taiwan to help repel a Chinese landing, the marines will be early participants in any conflict.
paywall

America and China are preparing for a war over Taiwan

It would spread far across the region, with devastating consequences for the world

www.economist.com

 

[Housecarl]

Posted for fair use.....

North Korea issues warning as reports say Kim Jong Un could test a nuclear device

Intelligence reports from the US and South Korea said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could test a nuclear device again, coinciding with forthcoming US-South Korea military drills

economictimes.indiatimes.com

• Home
• Editorials

Mon, Mar 13, 2023 page8​

• Richard D. Fisher, Jr. On Taiwan: Decisive deterrence requires US tactical nuclear weapons​

  In the last year, United States military and political officials have vacillated between warning of a Chinese attack against Taiwan by about mid-decade, and then walk-back cautions that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are not quite ready for that war.
  Such dissonance is to be expected from a large democracy, especially as the very crisis looms larger, with rising conflict between imperatives to warn and assure, which then obscures what is urgent: the US can decisively deter the CCP from its war by an emergency revival of US tactical nuclear capabilities.
  A message of assurance was offered during a March 2, 2020 Washington, DC Hudson Institute address by US Department of Defense IndoPacific Affairs Assistant Secretary Ely Ratner, who said “Deterrence is real, deterrence is strong,” adding China would likely not invade Taiwan before the end of this decade.
  
  Warning and assurance were offered on February 26 by US Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns, telling the CBS TV show Face The Nation, “We do know, as has been made public, that President Xi (習近平) has instructed the PLA, the Chinese military leadership, to be ready by 2027 to invade Taiwan... I think our judgment at least is that President Xi and his military leadership have doubts today about whether they could accomplish that invasion.”
  
  Earlier on January 27 a furor was created by the broad leaking to the press of a February 1 internal memo to his subordinates from US Air Force Mobility Command Commander General Michael Minihan, which stated:
  
  “I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025. [Chinese President Xi Jinping] secured his third term and set his war council in October 2022. Taiwan’s presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Xi a reason. United States’ presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Xi a distracted America. Xi’s team, reason, and opportunity are all aligned for 2025.”
  
  A more urgent warning was offered during an October 5, 2022 talk to the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, by US Navy Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday, saying:
  
  “What we’ve seen over the past 20 years is that they have delivered on every promise they’ve made earlier than they said they were going to deliver on it... When we talk about the 2027 window, in my mind, that has to be a 2022 window or potentially a 2023 window; I can’t rule it out.”
  
  Gilday’s point is that China could decide to initiate military action at any time, which is the optimal assessment.
  
  For the next two to four years the relative balance of power in Asia will favor China, meaning there will be great pressure on Xi Jinping to consider an early war to conquer Taiwan.
  
  While the US is finally producing new short, medium, and intermediate range ballistic missiles, they will not be deployed in Asia in numbers until the 2025 to 2027 time frame.
  
  Meanwhile, the PLA may have 2,000 to 4,000 ballistic and cruise missiles, depending on the number of missions of their 6x cruise missile carrying 125+ H-6K/J/N bombers.
  
  Most alarming, for decades the PLA has been assembling a Maritime Militia of large ferry ships, thousands of large river barges and thousands of fishing ships that could support multiple invasion waves of 100,000 troops plus their armor and support forces.
  
  And if the PLA can capture Taiwan’s large airports and air bases, it will use a large proportion of its 3,000 Airbus and Boeing airliners to accelerate the transport of invasion and occupation forces.
  
  China has built North Korea into a nuclear missile state capable of diverting US military attention with nuclear terror events, or heavy conventional and nuclear aggression against South Korea and Japan.
  
  China may now provide military aid to reenergize Russia’s horrific invasion of Ukraine, adding pressure to its exhausted defenders and forcing the diversion of more Western military resources, which since February 2022 has amounted to over $62 billion with over $44 billion from the US — military resources the US cannot use to reinforce Taiwan.
  
  By aiding Russia’s invasion now, China will better ensure that Moscow will not be defeated and that Russian naval, air, and even army forces might join China’s invasion of Taiwan.
  
  But if China heeds a crucial lesson from Russia’s failure to attack Ukraine with sufficient mass, it will strike Taiwan with as much surprise and as much mass as possible with an invasion fleet of thousands of ferries, barges and Boeing-Airbus airliners.
  
  The key question for Washington is whether it can regard a Chinese decision to strike Taiwan with overwhelming mass as an opportunity, a chance to decisively destroy and thus deter China’s existential threat to Taiwan, by the emergency production and deployment of tactical nuclear weapons.
  
  The Biden Administration’s 2022 decision to cancel the Trump Administration’s tactical nuclear warhead armed Tomahawk cruise missile was a strategic mistake; it will serve no higher purpose than to tempt China to initiate an early war against Taiwan.
  
  As such, the US should initiate a crash program to rebuild its theater nuclear forces, to include tactical nuclear artillery shells, tactical nuclear bombs, tactical nuclear warheads for cruise missiles, and new short to intermediate range ballistic missiles.
  
  The most important of these would be low-yield tactical nuclear artillery shells, that the US deployed in Europe and Asia until the George H.W. Bush and Clinton Administrations decided to retire and destroy them.
  
  Retired from US service in 1992, the W48 155-millimeter tactical nuclear artillery shell had a reported yield of 0.072 kilotons, or 72 tons of TNT, or roughly the weapons loads of three US Boeing B-52 bombers.
  
  As a new rocket-boosted tactical nuclear artillery shell may only have a range of 70 to 100 kilometers it will be a defensive weapon, unable to attack the Chinese mainland.
  
  However, the ability to fire 100 or so of these low-yield tactical nuclear artillery shells would devastate, possibly sink most of a PLA invasion force concentrated on thousands of ferries and barges, which would then render futile an airborne assault supported by very light vehicles.
  
  While it would be optimal to deploy them covertly to Taiwan, nuclear artillery shells could also be airlifted from Guam or covertly stored in underwater locations very close to Taiwan.
  
  If Xi Jinping understands that most of his invasion force will be sent to the bottom of the Taiwan Strait, he may then be less likely to order an invasion of Taiwan. The prospect of similar devastation to their invasion forces could also decisively deter North Korea and Russia.
  
  Today the US has a small number, perhaps less than 50, of the W76-2, a 5-kiloton (5,000 tons of TNT) tactical nuclear weapon that has to be launched by Trident submarine launched ballistic missile, that unfortunately could be regarded by China as a strategic nuclear attack justifying a much larger Chinese nuclear retaliation against the US.
  
  For global commitments the US may have about 500 of multiple versions of the B-61 tactical nuclear bomb, which can be “dialed down” to .03 kilotons or 300 tons of TNT. But these will have to be delivered by 4th generation non-stealthy US Air Force F-15E or F-16 fighters that may not survive long range PLA S-400 or HQ-9B anti-aircraft missiles that would be covering PLA invasion forces.
  
  This is simply insufficient to achieve deterrence.
  
  The US must seek to balance a robust theater nuclear force with a much larger strategic nuclear deterrent now that Russia has “suspended” its adherence to the 2010 New START nuclear arms control treaty and China is building up to a force of 3,000 to 4,000 nuclear warheads.
  
  The main point is that US political and military leaders do not have to raise anxieties in the US and Taiwan by making constant warnings of a horrific Chinese invasion.
  
  They can produce decisive assurance by rapidly reviving US theater nuclear capabilities while increasing strategic nuclear forces, to more efficiently deter Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin from considering new wars of conquest.
  
  Richard D. Fisher, Jr. is a senior fellow with the International Assessment and Strategy Center.
  
  
  
  
  
  

 

[danielboon]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1635104997959675907

View: https://twitter.com/EndGameWW3/status/1635104997959675907

 

[danielboon]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1635106108053532672

View: https://twitter.com/DaveyDigest/status/1635106108053532672

 

[danielboon]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1635428899847823363

View: https://twitter.com/EndGameWW3/status/1635428899847823363

 

[danielboon]

EndGameWW3

@EndGameWW3
·
43m

Taiwan unveils its new combat and surveillance drones as China threat grows

 

[jward]

I really don't like that picture o' the drone, booful shape, but the window's reflection make it look like a spotted guppy or something.

Looks matter, doncha know.

 

[jward]

Business profile picture
AFP News Agency
@AFP
1h

#UPDATE Taiwan's foreign ministry says it has asked Honduras not to "make the wrong decision" of establishing official ties with China.
"We ask Honduras to carefully consider and do not fall into China's trap and make the wrong decision"

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1635839340122370048

View: https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1635839340122370048?s=20

 

[northern watch]

 

[northern watch]

When China invades Taiwan, do you expect Biden to take swift action to stop the invasion?

 

[zealotbat]

Everything
Everywhere
All at once

There are no coincidences.......

 

[northern watch]

View attachment 402683

When China invades Taiwan, do you expect Biden to take swift action to stop the invasion?

My answer is no, Biden will do nothing during the first 48 hours, during this time China will establish beach heads which Taiwan will be unable to remove.

 

[colonel holman]

My answer is no, Biden will do nothing during the first 48 hours, during this time China will establish beach heads which Taiwan will be unable to remove.

Exactly right. It would be his “best” choice to ingratiate himself to his various handlers (domestic and foreign), as well as give in to the threat of China exposing his family’s graft if he does not support their objectives, plus he may even feel it is better to allow them to win in order to forward a peaceful world with one less conflict.

 

[northern watch]

Is it true that China can only invade Taiwan in the months of April and October, because all the other months of the year the waters of the Taiwan strait are too rough for landing craft to be effective?

OP: Is it true that China can only invade Taiwan in the months of April and October, because all the other months of the year the waters of the Taiwan strait are too rough for landing craft to be effective?

1. It’s mostly true, given China’s current landing craft design.
2. Remember, Taiwan and China and The Philippines and Japan all shares an ocean that is frequently visited by typhoons. Taiwan experience 10 typhoons a year. Not sure even US can conduct amphibious landing during a typhoon.
3. Typhoon was also why the Chinese invasion of Japan failed. This is the original of the term Kamikazi, divine wind, that sunk the Chinese Navy.

Is it true that China can only invade Taiwan in the months of April and October, because all the other months of the year the waters of t...

Answer (1 of 4): No, why would PLA risk the lives of thousands of their marines when a land invasion force can be easily intercepted by missiles and air strike? A more logical, and effective method is surgical pre-emptive strike against Taiwan’s top leadership and key military installations, fol...

www.quora.com

 

[northern watch]

When the invasion of Taiwan starts expect attacks in the US

 

[northern watch]

View attachment 402683

When China invades Taiwan, do you expect Biden to take swift action to stop the invasion?