Tag: Taiwan

Under Pressure

The US for far too long has threatened China over Taiwan…..originally it was over the Chinese doings in the South China Sea but then the focus went to Taiwan (I guess there was more of a case they could make for going to war over the island nation)…..for the past 3 or more years the war drums have been beating and now under Donny the pressure is being put on our Asian allies to get on-board….

The Pentagon is pressing Japan and Australia to make clear what role they would play if the US goes to war with China over Taiwan, the Financial Times reported over the weekend.

The report said that the Pentagon’s policy chief, Elbridge Colby, has been pressing the issue in recent meetings with Japanese and Australian officials, an effort that has frustrated officials in Tokyo and Canberra.

Appearing to confirm the report, Colby said in a post on X that the Pentagon is implementing President Trump’s “America First” foreign policy by “urging allies to step up their defense spending and other efforts related to our collective defense” in both Europe and Asia. “Of course, some among our allies might not welcome frank conversations,” he said.

Colby is a China hawk and a major proponent of the US preparing for war over Taiwan despite the risk of nuclear war. The FT report said that his meetings with Australian and Japanese officials were Colby’s latest effort to convince allies in the region to “raise deterrence” and prepare for a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait.

Sources told the paper that the US has been asking allies to raise military spending, but the request for commitments related to a potential war with China was a new demand. The US is for clarity on the issue despite maintaining a policy of strategic ambiguity over the question of whether or not the US would intervene if China attacked Taiwan.

https://news.antiwar.com/2025/07/14/us-pressing-japan-and-australia-on-what-they-would-do-if-the-us-goes-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan/

There has been lots of crazed macho chest beating over the situation and massive assets have been moved into the region for the coming conflict and in return China has been beefing up their forces and assets  in response

All the pieces are being put into place and the wait begins.

So is how firm is the commitment to Taiwan?

At first glance, Washington’s informal but very real commitment to defend Taiwan and preserve its de facto independence seems quite secure.  Over the past decade, Taipei’s security relationship with the United States grew steadily closer – with strong bipartisan approval in the United States.  Not only was that development apparent during Donald Trump’s first administration, but also, to the surprise of many experts on East Asian affairs, the trend persisted throughout Joe Biden’s presidency.

The prevailing assumption was that Trump’s return to the White House would be very good news for hardliners in Taiwan who want to push the envelope on independence.  Elbridge Colby, the official whom Trump chose to be undersecretary of defense for policy in his second administration is renowned for being an avid supporter of Taiwan.  Indeed, Colby embraces a hardline approach toward Beijing on a range of issues throughout East Asia.

However, Trump’s early statements indicated that Washington’s support for Taiwan’s security was far from unconditional.  He immediately pressured Taipei to raise its yearly defense spending – reportedly to 5 percent of annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  That is the same demand Trump is making to all members of NATO, and it is consistent with the U.S. president’s rhetorical commitment to an “America First” foreign policy overall.  One of his complaints dating from his 2016 presidential election campaign is that too many U.S. allies engage in “free riding” on Washington’s military exertions.  Trump’s insistence on greater “burden sharing” by America’s security clients has been a consistent theme of his tenure in the White House.

https://original.antiwar.com/Ted_Galen_Carpenter/2025/07/14/how-firm-is-washingtons-commitment-to-taiwans-security/

Muscle flexing 101….

Nearly 40,000 troops from 19 nations, including the US, have converged on northern Australia for the largest Talisman Sabre military drills ever, sending a hard-to-miss message about unity in the face of China’s growing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region. The live-fire drills held over three weeks involve artillery, rocket launchers, and tanks from the US, Australia, South Korea, Japan, and other allies, the Wall Street Journal reports. “Everyone is seeing the aggressive activities that China is doing,” said Lt. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, who commands the US Army’s I Corps. “That’s why they’re more interested in what they need to do to protect their sovereign interests.”

The scale and diversity of the force, which includes partners from Europe and across Asia, reflect growing concern over Beijing’s actions in the region. China’s military buildup and recent maneuvers—including live-fire naval drills near Australia and increased activity around Taiwan and the South China Sea—have spurred the US and its allies to expand joint exercises. This iteration features new elements: the debut of America’s Typhon missile system west of the International Date Line, drone operations inspired by the Ukraine war, and the first Talisman Sabre activity in Papua New Guinea. A ceremony kicked off the biennial event on Sunday.

Can the US afford another lengthy war?

How will the conflict be met by the American voter?

At what point is enough enough?

Just wondering.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What’s Up With Taiwan?

We are told these days that China has designs on Taiwan in their expansion desires and because of that tale we are throwing lots of taxpayer cash at the tiny island.

But what do we know about Taiwan other than it is the ‘other China’?

With that question it opens up for the Old Professor to inject some history….and I thank you.

While several closer islands, such as the Penghu (or the Pescadores as they are now known), were incorporated into the Chinese polity during the period of Ming blue water exploration in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Formosa (or Taiwan as it came to be known) never was.

After shuttering its large scale naval activities in the mid-fifteenth century, the Ming were thereafter largely content to let the rival trading companies of the Portuguese and Dutch quarrel for influence on Formosa, where trade revolved around tea and camphor.

In an odd bit of history repeating itself, the island first became a central focus of a ruling mainland Chinese regime as a result of a civil war that needed concluding: displaced by the invading Manchurian forces (the eventual Qing), in 1661 what remained of the Han, Ming ruling clique retreated to Formosa. It was following their ultimate defeat in 1683 that Formosa started to become ethically and administratively integrated into China (a process completed around a century later).

Despite its import as a trading hub in the centuries thereafter, when the Japanese took possession of Formosa at the end of the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), per the terms of the Treaty Shimonoseki (1885), the island’s new rulers found a society, economy, and polity virtually untouched by modernity.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/how-taiwan-became-an-issue/

There is a darker history than Washington would like for you to know….

Taiwan is today lauded for its vibrant democracy, open economy, and progressive society. However, behind this shining exterior is a dark and brutal history that is frequently overlooked; or in the case of Washington and its loyal corporate mouthpieces, purposefully ignored.

For before its democratization in the 1990s, Taiwan was a harsh authoritarian police state under the rule of Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo. This period, marked by severe repression and systemic terror, is an essential chapter in Taiwan’s history that Americans should know, particularly given the enduring resentment Washington’s vital support for the regime engendered and the purported reasons for the necessity of the island’s defense.

The roots of Taiwan’s authoritarianism can be traced back to the retreat of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government (Kuomintang, or KMT) to Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War to the Communists in 1949. The local population had already received more than an inkling of what awaited, the KMT authorities having already in 1947 brutally suppressed a popular protest against KMT corruption, mistreatment, and misrule on the island. Facing a precarious situation and the ever-looming threat of a Communist invasion, once arrived on the island Chiang established a regime that relied heavily on surveillance, repression, and brutality to maintain control.

Central to this regime was the role of Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek’s son, who was instrumental in the creation and operation of Taiwan’s police state. Having spent formative years in Stalin’s Moscow, Chiang Ching-kuo learned from the Soviet Union’s tactics of surveillance, infiltration, and terror. Upon his return, he applied these methods to serve his father’s regime, becoming a formidable spy chief whose skills ensured the perpetuation of KMT rule in Taiwan.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-taiwan-problem-you-probably-dont-know/

It might be a good idea to learn a few things since DC is pushing us toward confrontation with mainland China.

Taxpayer money is being used to keep this pot stirred….for it is damn profitable for some.

Just an idea of how much is being passed…..

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has announced plans to procure an additional 1,985 Stinger missiles from the US amid rising tensions with China.

The ministry told lawmakers in its latest budget report that it is eyeing a fivefold increase in its Stinger stockpile, from 500 missiles to 2,485.

It also plans to purchase 549 launch systems and 549 identification friend-or-foe (IFF) transponders.

To fund the potential procurement, the ministry is reportedly requesting 69 billion New Taiwan dollars ($2.2 billion) — a significant increase over the 13 billion New Taiwan dollars ($405 million) previously sought.

(thedefensepost.com)

After all war is big business.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What Is The Problem With The China/Taiwan Thing?

I know that the Gaza thing has every little person concerned with what is happening and all the while Ukraine continues and then there is this thing that has popped up in the last couple of years…..South China Sea.

The US has mobilized in protection of the island nation of Taiwan and the war drums are slowly beating out a scenario that could be disastrous for all parties involved in this mash-up.  (There are other problems in this region but this is the one that is getting the grease in the form of taxpayer dollars)

Have you ever asked yourself….What is this all about?

China has launched major military drills around Taiwan, simulating a full-scale attack on the island – just days after the new president William Lai was sworn in.

The exercises reinforce what is at the heart of the issue: China’s claim over self-governed Taiwan.

Beijing sees the island as a breakaway province that will, eventually, be part of the country, and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve this.

But many Taiwanese consider themselves to be part of a separate nation – although most are in favour of maintaining the status quo where Taiwan neither declares independence from China nor unites with it.

Taiwan’s first known settlers were Austronesian tribal people, believed to have come from modern day southern China.

Chinese records appear to first mention the island in AD239, when an emperor dispatched an expeditionary force to it – a fact Beijing uses to back its territorial claim.

After a relatively brief spell as a Dutch colony, Taiwan was administered by China’s Qing dynasty, before it was ceded to Tokyo after Japan won the First Sino-Japanese War.

After World War Two, Japan surrendered and relinquished control of territory it had taken from China. Afterwards, Taiwan was officially considered occupied by the Republic of China (ROC), which began ruling with the consent of its allies, the US and UK.

But in the next few years a civil war broke out in China, and then-leader Chiang Kai-shek’s troops were defeated by Mao Zedong’s Communist army.

Chiang, the remnants of his Kuomintang (KMT) government and their supporters – about 1.5m people – fled to Taiwan in 1949.

Chiang established a dictatorship that ruled Taiwan until the 1980s. Following his death, Taiwan began a transition to democracy and held its first elections in 1996.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34729538

All this was possible because the nationalists ran from the communists and the world got another domino in the theory that was ever so popular back in the day.

Now the US is once again pouring money into the island to confront China.

Taiwan’s recent election could spell a major escalation.

A Taiwan led by the newly inaugurated William Lai Ching-te will bring new challenges to the cross-strait relationship, as well as Beijing’s global articulation of its policies towards the self-governed island, according to observers on either side.
Joanna Lei Chien, a former Taiwanese lawmaker from the opposition party Kuomintang, said many assumptions on the cross-strait situation “should be thrown out of the window because things have changed at an exceedingly surprising speed” since Lai took over on Monday.
“Lai’s persona. It’s something that we really need to be very careful about,” Lei told a digital seminar hosted by the think tank Centre for Globalisation Hong Kong on Thursday.

If you must worry about something then I suggest that you keep an eye on Taiwan for it could be bursting into flames and sooner rather than later.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

As The Country Runs Out Of Cash

We just had a debacle about the debt limit just a few mere weeks ago and the reports are that it will be even further in debt soon…..and with all this concern over debt and spending our president has almost demanded more cash for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

White House rolled out its proposed $105 billion bill to arm Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. The legislation also includes funding for the border and humanitarian assistance. US officials say over $50 billion will go to American weapons manufacturers.

The Biden administration is proposing a massive aid package as it has struggled to get Congress to appropriate more funds for the proxy war in Ukraine. The largest portion of money is for Ukraine at $61.4 billion. The White House wants enough money for Ukraine to fund Kiev through the 2024 election.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan described the aid as critical to American national security and demanded Congress pass the bill. “This budget request is critical to advancing America’s national security and ensuring the safety of the American people,” Sullivan said. “The world is closely watching what Congress does next.”

Biden announced the legislation in a speech on Thursday night, “American leadership is what holds the world together. American alliances are what keep us in America safe. American values are what make us a partner nation you want to work with.” He continued,”to put all that at risk – we walk away from Ukraine, we turn our backs on Israel – it’s just not worth it. That’s why tomorrow I’m going to send to Congress an urgent budget request to fund America’s national security needs – needs to support our critical partners, including Israel and Ukraine.”

Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young, explained that nearly half of the money will go to American arms makers. “This supplemental request invests over $50 billion in the American defense industrial base, ensuring our military continues to be the most ready, capable, and best-equipped fighting force the world has ever seen,” she said.

Young claimed that the spending would bolster the American economy and create jobs. However, a study indicated that military spending costs more jobs than it creates.

(antiwar.com)

I have said this many times….why is others problems mean that the US must throw money at them?

I seldom see this kind of urgency when it comes to our social programs.

Why is that?  (Don’t answer that was rhetorical question)

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Will China Invade Taiwan?

When people are not voicing their thoughts on the conflict in Ukraine and of course go to the next big story the media is pushing….a possible confrontation between US and China over Taiwan.

But the question is will China truly invade/attack Taiwan?

This article looks at the possibility….

Is China really on the verge of invading the island of Taiwan, as so many top American officials seem to believe? If the answer is “yes” and the U.S. intervenes on Taiwan’s side — as President Biden has sworn it would — we could find ourselves in a major-power conflict, possibly even a nuclear one, in the not-too-distant future. Even if confined to Asia and fought with conventional weaponry alone — no sure thing — such a conflict would still result in human and economic damage on a far greater scale than observed in Ukraine today.

But what if the answer is “no,” which seems at least as likely? Wouldn’t that pave the way for the U.S. to work with its friends and allies, no less than with China itself, to reduce tensions in the region and possibly open a space for the launching of peaceful negotiations between Taiwan and the mainland? If nothing else, it would eliminate the need to boost the Pentagon budget by many billions of dollars annually, as now advocated by China hawks in Congress.

How that question is answered has enormous implications for us all. Yet, among policymakers in Washington, it isn’t even up for discussion. Instead, they seem to be competing with each another to identify the year in which the purported Chinese invasion will occur and war will break out between our countries.

Is It 2035, 2027, or 2025?

All high-level predictions of an imminent Chinese invasion of Taiwan rest on the assumption that Chinese leaders will never allow that island to become fully independent and so will respond to any move in that direction with a full-scale military assault. In justifying such claims, American officials regularly point to the ongoing modernization of China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and warnings by top Chinese officials that they will crush any effort by “separatist elements” in Taiwan to impede unification. In line with that mode of thinking, only one question remains: Exactly when will the Chinese leadership consider the PLA ready to invade Taiwan and overpower any U.S. forces sent to the island’s relief?

Is a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan Imminent?

I am positive that there are ideas on this eventuality….let them fly.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Yet Another War?

We all know of and have an opinion on the war raging in Ukraine…..and we know (for those who care) that there is a massive war of words going on between China and the US over the status of Taiwan.

Will this become more of a problem much as Ukraine has become?

According to one Naval officer…….

A high-level Navy official said Wednesday that the US should prepare for the possibility of China invading Taiwan as soon as this year.

“So 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,” said Adm. Michael Gilday, the chief of naval operations.

The “2027 window” refers to a claim from retired Adm. Phil Davidson, the former head of US Indo-Pacific Command, who said last year he believes China could invade within six years. Gilday said he was prioritizing a “fight tonight” posture for the US Navy with respect to China and Russia.

Gilday said his assessment was based on comments Chinese President Xi Jinping made this week, although the Chinese leader only reiterated that he seeks “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan but won’t rule out the use of force.

“It’s not just what President Xi says, but it’s how the Chinese behave and what they do,” Gilday said. “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.”

While US officials are always warning that China is planning to invade Taiwan, Beijing has little interest in doing so as it would require the largest amphibious invasion in military history. If China chooses to take military action against Taiwan, it would likely initially opt for a blockade, which it simulated in unprecedented exercises around the island in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) visiting Taipei.

Gilday’s warning comes as the US is working to send massive amounts of weapons to Taiwan. While done in the name of deterrence, China’s actions and rhetoric make it clear that more US support for Taiwan will make Chinese military action more likely.

During his speech earlier this week, Xi also warned strongly against “interference” from outside forces, and other Chinese officials have explicitly warned that US support for Taiwan’s “independence forces” could lead to war.

Just what the US needs another drain on our budget….but hey who cares it will make the world safe for democracy.

One question….how many forever wars must the US finance?

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is China Bluffing?

Now there is a damn good question.

Well Pelosi goes to Taiwan and pisses China off….and China in retaliation…..

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has departed Taiwan—and China has launched what are believed to be its biggest-ever military drills around the island, which it has long vowed to reunify with the mainland, by force if necessary. For the first time since 1996, China has fired missiles into waters around Taiwan, reports Reuters. The drills, which China says will last from Thursday to Sunday, are taking place in six zones around the island, some of them stretching into Taiwan’s territorial waters, encircling the island and disrupting shipping in what experts describe as a temporary blockade, the Wall Street Journal reports. More:

  • Taiwan says China “imitated North Korea.” Taiwan’s foreign ministry strongly condemned China’s actions, accusing the country of imitating North Korea with its missile launches, the Guardian reports. The ministry urged the international community to join the condemnation and support Taiwan’s democratic government.
  • “Precision strikes.” China, which had warned of “serious consequences” if Pelosi went to Taiwan, said it carried out precision strikes in exercises involving its air force, navy, and other service branches, the AP reports. “Long-range armed live fire precision missile strikes were carried out on selected targets in the eastern area of the Taiwan Strait,” the People’s Liberation Army said in a statement. “The expected outcome was achieved.”

A trial run for invasion? Analysts—including Major Gen. Meng Xiangqing, a professor of strategy at the PLA’s National Defense University in Beijing who was interviewed on state TV—see the exercises as a trial run for a longer blockade and possible invasion, the New York Times reports. “Under the guise of signaling, they’re trying to basically test their ability to conduct complex maneuvers that are necessary for an amphibious assault on Taiwan,” says Oriona Skylar Mastro at Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. Meng said the encirclement “creates very good conditions for reshaping the strategic situation in a way that benefits unification.”

China says it’s an internal affair. China rejected accusations of violating international law, saying its dealings with Taiwan are an internal affair. “Our punishment of pro-Taiwan independence diehards, external forces is reasonable, lawful,” China’s Beijing-based Taiwan Affairs Office said, per Reuters.

  • Shipping disrupted. The drills have forced ships using the Taiwan Strait, one of the world’s busiest waterways, to reroute, which will add to the global disruption of supply chains, the BBC reports. More than 50 international flights to and from Taiwan were canceled Thursday because of the drills.
  • In China, some wanted more. Social media users in China who applauded Beijing’s tough rhetoric ahead of Pelosi’s visit said they were disappointed her plane hadn’t been shot down or blocked from landing, reports the New York Times. Before censors shut down the comments section on a WeChat video of a military exercise, commenters accused Beijing of being “cowardly in foreign affairs,” and a few people said they wanted to quit the Communist Party out of shame.

Some may say that Pelosi, now 82, has entered her second childhood. If so, it’s a delinquent one. Certainly her political inhibitions have dissolved, allowing her natural inclination to foment trouble to run rampant. One looks in vain for a rational motivation behind her ad hoc trip to Taiwan, an act of belligerency that might have sparked a war with another nuclear power. But to what end? China is not going to relinquish its entirely legitimate claims to Taiwan. Far from a model democracy, Taiwan is a former gangster state, whose repressive government was shaped by Chiang Kai-Shek, who retreated there in 1949 with his battered gang of CIA-financed KMT thugs, where he promptly instituted a violent crackdown on leftists known as the White Terror, a vicious form of martial law that lasted for the next 45 years.

Sure Pelosi represents many rich Chinese exiles, who have made fortunes in San Francisco and now fantasize about sticking it to the CCP from the safety of their Nob Hill mansions. But Pelosi doesn’t need their money or support. She’s well beyond that now. (Though her husband Paul (net worth: $130 million) is surely watching with avaricious eyes the reaction of the markets to this junket of the damned.) Antagonizing China over Taiwan doesn’t solve any of the global crises (climate, North Korea, Ukraine, Covid) hurtling toward us on all fronts–not even the “problem” of Taiwan.

Why Pelosi picked China as her target du jour is no mystery. Like Biden (and Bernie Sanders, for that matter), Pelosi has always been a Cold Warrior. It’s the way she chooses to understand the world, even if it’s a world that no longer quite exists. The political economy Pelosi has done much to help engineer over the last 35 years needs perpetual enemies to justify the trillions sunk into the weapons-and-surveillance complex. And not ephemeral scrub units like Al Qaeda and ISIS. Big ones like Russia and China. But more sophisticated politicians, from Nixon to Obama, have understood that the trick is to keep the threat elevated without actually risking a war. Pelosi seems to have lost this inhibition, as well.

Thus the brazenness–one is tempted to say, desperation–of her Taiwan excursion is a pretty clear sign of imperial (as well as mental) slippage. Far from a show of strength, Pelosi’s antics in Taipei revealed the frailty of the US hegemon in the Pacific. Sure, China postured a bit in response with naval exercises encircling Taiwan, drawing out of climate talks and slapping sanctions on Pelosi. But Beijing, a much more reflective (if equally lethal) government than our own, must have viewed Pelosi’s frantic finger-wagging as little more than a parody of power, a shrill manifestation of America’s political decrepitude.

(Jeffery St. Clair)

(This will be interesting to see just how successful the propaganda machine has worked on the American people)

But back to the original question….One could say that China may not be bluffing…..

Across the Eurasian continent, China finds itself being provoked by the US’s oleaginous adherence to the One China policy to which it is a signatory. Beijing has in recent days warned of severe consequences to be borne by the US and separatists in Taiwan (there are vociferous protests in Taiwan against Pelosi’s visit) if US House speaker Nancy Pelosi were to land in Taiwan.

Nonetheless, Pelosi is now in Taiwan, saying her visit “honors America’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant democracy.” Even NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman said that Pelosi was being “utterly reckless, dangerous and irresponsible.”

Has China Been Bluffing?

What is the next move in this real game of “Risk” (registered trademark)

Could this situation escalate?  Events are starting to spiral again….and that usually means that the US will be a war somewhere in the very near future.

This is your world now….the US ends one war and starts looking for another to replace the lost defense industry profits….none of this bodes well for the American people…..in 80 years nothing has changed….the US goes from one war to another…..a cycle that seems unbreakable.

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That China Thing

I have noticed that my posts on Ukraine are drawing very little attention……seems readers have lost all interest in the conflict while the US packs money into the country at an alarming rate.

The focus now is on China and Taiwan….gives the armchair analyst lots to write about (for now)….

For a couple of years now we have been told that China was on the move and becoming a major player in the Pacific……it has been sold as important so much so that Pelosi had to go to Asia and Taiwan especially to illustrate the US commitment to the region.

Pelosi’s most controversial visit is of course with Taiwan…..and she has an explanation (none of which is valid in my opinion)…..

Just minutes after Nancy Pelosi touched down in Taiwan, a piece she wrote for the Washington Post went live. Titled “Why I’m leading a congressional delegation to Taiwan,” Pelosi quite simply explains that very thing. Some key lines:

  • “In the face of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) accelerating aggression, our congressional delegation’s visit should be seen as an unequivocal statement that America stands with Taiwan, our democratic partner, as it defends itself and its freedom.”
  • “Our visit—one of several congressional delegations to the island—in no way contradicts the long-standing one-China policy [which recognizes, but does not endorse, China’s position that Taiwan is its territory], guided by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, the US-China Joint Communiques, and the Six Assurances. The United States continues to oppose unilateral efforts to change the status quo.”

“America’s solidarity with Taiwan is more important today than ever—not only to the 23 million people of the island but also to millions of others oppressed and menaced by the PRC [People’s Republic of China].”

“We take this trip at a time when the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy. As Russia wages its premeditated, illegal war against Ukraine, killing thousands of innocents—even children—it is essential that America and our allies make clear that we never give in to autocrats.”

AS if on cue China responds to Pelosi…..

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement of its own upon Pelosi’s arrival in Taiwan. It reads in part: “Congress, as a part of the US Government, is inherently obliged to strictly observe the one-China policy of the US Government and refrain from having any official exchanges with China’s Taiwan region. China is all along opposed to the visit to Taiwan by US congressional members, and the US executive branch has the responsibility to stop such visit. Since Speaker Pelosi is the incumbent leader of the US Congress, her visit to and activities in Taiwan, in whatever form and for whatever reason, is a major political provocation.”

As for what the White House is saying, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told CNN Pelosi’s visit “is completely consistent with American policy. No change to our One China policy … There should be no reason for them to use this visit as some sort of a pretext for any kind of action that would escalate tensions.”

China reactions……

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the announcements from China were “unfortunately right in line with what we had anticipated,” the Washington Post reports. Kirby said there is no reason for “Beijing to turn this visit, which is consistent with long-standing US policy, into some sort of crisis, or use it as a pretext to increase aggressiveness and military activity in or around the Taiwan Strait.” He added: “We are prepared to manage what Beijing chooses to do. At the same time, we will not engage in saber-rattling.”

Analysts say that while the exercises will temporarily block some Taiwanese ports, China appears to be planning a show of strength but not an invasion of the island, reports the New York Times. But with tensions high, there is a chance that an accidental encounter between the Chinese and Taiwanese militaries that could spark a conflict. In a fiery editorial, the state-run Global Times said “forces like Pelosi” could not stop “full reunification” of the mainland and Taiwan—and she should pay a price for the “reckless” visit. “We should make people like Pelosi understand that Taiwan is not a place where they can visit at will,” the editorial said.

Even the people of Taiwan is not thrilled about Pelosi’s visit……

Many of the island’s 23.5 million people, said Yang, “are saying that she is causing trouble” while many more “do not care much about it.” They were inclined to shrug it off while obsessed with “domestic issues that are much bigger and attracting more attention than Pelosi’s visit.”

With Pelosi now firmly on the disputed Chinese territory, the ball is in China’s court to fire back. There was no doubt her visit would be filled with nothing but upbeat statements and expressions of friendship, but all the happy talk isn’t likely to convince a lot of people on Taiwan that her presence is an unmixed blessing.

This mash-up is starting to look like provocation to me.

Taiwan is a convenient spot to make a stand….if not for Taiwan where would it be?

Nothing more than a simple way to keep cash flowing from treasury to the defense industry.

Once this situation is lost in the headlines….where will we be sending our cash?

Could all this just be a fake?

From the front pages of The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, the Economist, to The New York Times’ Best Sellers List; from CNN and MSNBC to FOX and NEWSMAX; from think tanks to Pentagon planners, congressional testimonies and White House statements: CHINA! So singularly focused and omnipresent has the narrative of the China Threat become, one can be forgiven for forgetting that China is in fact a middle income country of modest capabilities and with no stated intention of doing any harm to Americans or the United States. Further, that China is not bent on world domination; and further still, as shall be clearly demonstrated, even if it secretly were there is a negligible chance of that coming to pass whatever Beijing’s efforts.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-fake-china-threat-and-its-very-real-danger/

Just a thought.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Biden China Policy

The US policy of containment is the only policy Biden will allow…..a policy that has been the ‘norm’ for 70 years…..

Blinken compared the China of today with the China of a half century ago, saying it has moved from isolation and poverty to being a global power. He then claims that “China’s transformation . . . was also made possible by the stability and opportunity that the international order provides. Arguably, no country on Earth has benefited more from that than China.” He then accuses China of using its new found power, not to reinforce the international order that made it possible, but to undermine it.

Blinken’s accusation is an old one. It is an incarnation of the theory that Alexander Lukin, Head of International Relations at the HSE University in Moscow, says insinuates that China deceived the West by accepting its help in joining the international trade system and international organizations, making it possible to launch its economic growth, and then reneged on the implied agreement that it would then take its subordinate place, on America’s terms, in the international system under US hegemony.

The assumption behind Blinken’s charge against China is that membership in the international system supposes taking your place under US leadership and that any country that follows an alternative path to the US led path needs to be contained so that it does not challenge the world’s inevitable adoption of the American social, political and economic model and leadership.

Biden’s New China Policy

For the third time, President Joe Biden declared a new U.S. policy toward Taiwan, only to have his officials insist that nothing has changed.

The policies Biden is attempt to enforce are not all that new….

Then there is Taiwan….

While the world is focused on the prolonged war in Ukraine…Taiwan makes a move…..

China has scoffed at comparisons of itself and Taiwan to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But that hasn’t eased the fears of Taiwanese residents, who are now taking a step many never expected: getting firearms training. Although gun ownership is strongly regulated in Taiwan, people who’ve never picked up a weapon in their lives are flocking instead to sites that train in how to shoot less-dangerous airsoft guns, devices that fire off nonmetallic projectiles. “More and more people are coming to take part,” Max Chiang, the CEO of Polar Light, a combat skills training firm in Taipei, tells Reuters. He adds that signups for lessons in how to shoot airsofts have almost quadrupled since the war in Ukraine started in February. The news agency notes that “many of the movements and tactics involved” in shooting airsoft guns “resemble combat skills, from shooting posture to aiming.”

Polls have increasingly showed that the people of Taiwan are willing to defend themselves against a Chinese invasion if need be, reports the Los Angeles Times. Some, including retired Adm. Lee Hsi-ming, the former chief of the general staff of Taiwan’s armed forces, are even suggesting that civilians receive combat training and set up a DIY defense force, much like one that Ukraine employs (others say, however, that such a volunteer force isn’t currently feasible). Taiwan does currently have mandatory military service—four months for young men, plus occasional reservist training—but those who’ve been through it say they receive minimal firearms training. “I need to come to these kinds of lessons to actually learn something,” a 26-year-old personal trainer who’s gone through his conscription says of the airsoft gun training he’s now undergoing.

In short, many in Taiwan simply want to be prepared in case China one day tries to use force to sweep Taiwan more fully back into its fold. “I wanted to learn some combat skills,” including skills “to be able to react to any kind of situation,” one Taiwanese man, a tattoo artist, tells Reuters. “I … don’t want to go to war, but in the unfortunate event of this really happening, I will be mentally prepared.” The Taiwanese public is prepping for the worst in other ways as well, stocking up on food, batteries, and other emergency supplies, purchasing pepper spray, and rigging their homes with alarm systems. “Think about how you can help yourself and others survive,” one councilman candidate says.

(antiwar.com)

This slow boil will soon erupt into a major conflict if we are not careful…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is It A ‘Gaffe’ Or Dementia?

I know that many conservs want the answer to Biden’s recent comments to be dementia because of his advanced age…..and others are saying that ‘Uncle Joe’ is doing what he does best….gaffs……

I am talking about his most recent statement about his desire to protect Taiwan from any incursion by China….

In case you live under a ignorance rock…….

So has US policy toward Taiwan changed or not? “No,” President Biden declared Tuesday when asked that specific question, reports the AP. But Biden’s comments the previous day still seem to have muddied the water on what the US would do if China were to invade the self-governing island.

  • The comments: In his prepared remarks on Monday, Biden was sufficiently vague on how the US would react to a Chinese takeover of Taiwan, in sync with the decades-long policy that has come to be known as “strategic ambiguity.” But when asked by a reporter if the US was “willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that,” Biden replied, “Yes.”
  • A pattern: His comments had White House officials scrambling to clarify that US policy has not changed, and Peter Baker at the New York Times notes this appears to be a regular feature of the current White House—as when Biden ad-libbed that Vladimir Putin should not remain in power. “Each time he says what he really thinks, there is the ritual cleanup brigade dispatched by the White House to pretend that he did not really say what he clearly articulated—or that even if he did, it did not really amount to a change in policy,” writes Baker. “But then Mr. Biden, unperturbed and unapologetic, goes out and does it all over again.” This is, in fact, the third time Biden has made such remarks on Taiwan.
  • Dead or no? Views are split on what Biden’s comments mean. “Strategic ambiguity is over,” writes Georgetown professor Matthew Kroenig. “Strategic clarity is here. This is the third time Biden has said this. Good. China should welcome this. Washington is helping Beijing to not miscalculate.” On the other hand, Harvard’s Lev Nachman doesn’t see a reversal. “Strategic ambiguity is about under what conditions the US would intervene in a war over Taiwan, not a flat out refusal to answer if it would intervene,” he writes. Biden’s language, however, was “sloppy,” he adds.
  • In the middle? An analysis at the Washington Post by Adam Taylor looks at whether this might simply be a gaffe by a president long known for making them or a deliberate shift in policy, but also floats the idea of a something in between those two things: “Perhaps the most persuasive idea about Biden’s comments is that this is still ‘strategic ambiguity,’ just with a new, harder spin.”
  • One fear: An assessment by Phelim Kine at Politico notes that some fear Biden’s seemingly more aggressive stance might provoke China into making a preemptive move on Taiwan. On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin warned that Beijing “will take firm actions to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests.” The analysis also notes that nothing currently on the books, including the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act and the 1982 Six Assurances, “specifically obligate” the US to intervene militarily.
  • A gripe: “Does anyone at the #WhiteHouse actually respect the words of @POTUS?” tweeted GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger after staffers clarified Biden’s Monday comments. “Biden said we would defend #Taiwan, and the staff AGAIN walks back the Presidents own words! He needs to fire everyone who does this.”

It is neither….dementia or a gaff….it is Biden signaling the defense industry that the cash will continue to be thrown in their direction.

Ukraine well is running dry so a new excuse to piss away money is needed quickly….and Biden provided that excuse.

9/11 provided the perfect excuse for the wasting of taxpayer cash…national security…..

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“lego ergo scribo”