Important Takeaways:
- For Taiwan, the cutting of an undersea communications cable, and live-fire shooting drills involving dozens of Chinese warplanes off the island’s coast this week were just the latest scary omens from Beijing.
- But Taipei’s biggest fear – a full-blown assault by its mighty neighbor – could come faster than they imagined, says a shocking new report on China’s recent diplomatic gains on the world stage.
- Researchers at Australia’s Lowy Institute have shown that the number of governments that support China’s bid to ‘reunify’ with Taiwan, including through military means, has jumped to 89 in recent months.
- That amounts to nearly half the membership of the United Nations, a testament to China’s prowess at using its Belt and Road investment scheme to enlist cheerleaders, especially among developing nations in the global south.
- The report comes amid deepening divisions between the western countries that have long advocated for Taiwan’s self-rule, as Donald Trump’s America pulls back from its European allies.
- The stakes don’t come higher: many see the South China Sea as the world’s most dangerous flashpoint, where fighting could quickly spiral into a nuclear face-off between Washington and Beijing.
- Fully 89 countries – 46 percent of UN members – give China a free hand when it comes to ‘national reunification’.
- Some 53 countries in Africa, where China directs much aid and investment, have greenlighted ‘all efforts by the Chinese government’ toward reunification – a phrase understood to include military force.
- Many Taiwanese see themselves as part of a separate democracy, although most support maintaining the status quo where Taiwan neither declares independence from China nor unites with it.
- Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te has vowed to ‘resist annexation or encroachment’.
- ‘If Taiwan declared independence first, it will be subject to Chinese invasion. And many countries may accept it,’ Acharya told DailyMail.com.
- ‘But if China outright invaded Taiwan before it declared independence, most countries will not support China.’
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Important Takeaways:
- The United States condemned Wednesday what it called “dangerous maneuvers” by China after a Chinese navy helicopter flew within 10 feet of a Philippine patrol plane in a disputed area of the South China Sea.
- The incident took place Tuesday morning local time as a plane belonging to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources was flying what Philippine officials said was a routine low-altitude patrol over the Scarborough Shoal, an atoll that is mostly underwater but is rich in fish stocks.
- Video shared by the Philippine coast guard showed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army navy helicopter hovering above and to the left of the Philippine plane before moving away again in an effort to push the plane out of what Beijing says is its airspace.
- In a call with his Philippine counterpart last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio underscored the “ironclad” U.S. commitment to the Philippines, which it is obligated to defend, and said he shared the Philippines’ concern about China’s “dangerous and destabilizing actions” in the South China Sea.
- The Philippine plane was carrying personnel from the Philippine coast guard, as well as multiple journalists, officials said.
- “You are flying too close, you are very dangerous and it endangers the lives of our crew and passengers,” the video shows the pilot of the Philippine plane telling the Chinese navy helicopter by radio.
- The Philippine government said it would issue a formal diplomatic protest over the incident.
- The Chinese military disputed the Philippines’ account, saying the plane had illegally entered Chinese airspace and that the Philippines had “distorted the facts and spread false narratives.”
- In a dispute brought by the Philippines, an international tribunal in The Hague said in 2016 that Beijing’s South China Sea claims were invalid, a ruling that China has never accepted.
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Important Takeaways:
- The head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific command, in the first direct communications in years with a senior Chinese general in charge of regional forces, warned Beijing was engaged in “dangerous” incidents in the South China Sea, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
- Sam Paparo held the video teleconference with Gen. Wu Yanan, commander of the People’s Liberation Army southern command, on Monday and urged his forces to abide by international law in the South China Sea. China has made expansive sovereignty claims to the strategic waterway that are rejected by the U.S. and smaller countries around the region.
- Monday’s meeting was the first time in more than two years that a regional PLA commander spoke to a commander of the Hawaii-based command, despite repeated efforts to resume direct communications the American side believes will reduce tensions.
- The Pentagon, under Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, has been pressing the command to resume regular talks with Chinese regional military leaders to “clarify intent” and reduce the risk of a U.S.-China military exchange. The talks between the two commanders were described as “constructive and respectful.”
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Important Takeaways:
- China’s Increased Bullying of Philippines to Test US Resolve
- Despite the allegedly warm atmosphere of the San Francisco Summit between China’s Communist Party leader Xi Jinping and US President Joseph Biden, the Chinese dictator reportedly told Biden, “that Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China but that the timing has not yet been decided,” and “that China’s preference is to take Taiwan peacefully, not by force.”
- It is clear that Xi is doubling down on his claim of sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, starting with Taiwan, and understands that he might have only a few “good” months left.
- The latest aggressive move by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took place when a Chinese Coast Guard ship deluged three Philippine vessels with water cannon on December 9 and 10. This assault resulted in severe engine damage to one of the Philippine vessels necessitating it to be towed to home port.
- Another vessel found itself rammed by a Chinese boat. That incident took place near the Second Thomas Shoal, an island in waters also claimed by China. CCP bullying in 2023 also included threatening maneuvers by Chinese ships against Philippine maritime exploration for hydrocarbons and natural gas, as well as frequent harassment of Filipino fishermen. In a more serious encounter in February 2023, a Chinese patrol boat lasered Filipino sailors. China’s maritime aggression against Philippine efforts to resupply a military contingent on a marooned vessel on an island in disputed waters of what Manila calls the West Philippine Sea.
- China’s repeated targeting of the Philippines appears possibly related to Manila’s decision to grant the US expanded military presence in the Philippines, by granting the US military access to four additional air and naval facilities, raising the number to nine.
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Important Takeaways:
- Tense moment Chinese fighter jet ‘comes close to COLLIDING’ with American B-52 bomber by just TEN FEET over South China Sea, sparking US fury
- The US military has revealed that a Chinese jet came dangerously close to a US bomber earlier this week over the South China Sea.
- The revelation, offered by the US Indo-Pacific Command in a statement Thursday, comes as part of what American officials have described as increasingly risky behavior by Chinese military aircraft.
- The US military blasted both the pilot and maneuver, saying that it unnecessarily put both pilots at risk – citing footage that shows the Chinese J-11 jet coming within 10 feet of the B-52 aircraft Tuesday.
- Earlier this month, the Pentagon said Chinese military aircraft have carried out maneuvers close to US planes nearly 200 times since 2021 – fueling already heightened tensions between Beijing and Washington.
- Just last week, China’s defense ministry shot back at those claims, insisting in a statement that the Pentagon’s criticism of its aerial intercepts was a premeditated smear on China – one with ulterior political motives.
- Relations between China and the United States have already been tense, and the recent close-calls have not helped.
- Biden also warned China about its recent harassment of Philippine vessels in the South China Sea.
- ‘Any attack on Filipino aircraft, vessels or armed forces will invoke our mutual defense treaty with the Philippines,’ he said.
- ‘I want to be very clear. The United States defense commitment to the Philippines is ironclad.’
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Chinese Defense Minister Threatens to Attack Taiwan ‘Without Any Hesitation’
- Chinese National Defense Minister Li Shangfu, making his debut on the international stage, told attendees at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Sunday that the communist nation’s military would attack “without any hesitation” against any allies of Taiwan seeking to support the nation’s independence from Beijing.
- Li spent most of his address at the event, an annual platform for the world’s most powerful military leaders to discuss the future of national defense, promoting the Communist Party’s “Global Security Initiative,” a proposal by genocidal dictator Xi Jinping discouraging countries from acting in the interest of their own defense and instead proposing undefined “win-win cooperation.”
- Li insisted China was a pioneer in world peace, repeatedly condemning the United States – without naming America – as a force for “hegemony” and “self-serving” clique-forming. Li also pressured America to no longer maintain a presence in the South China Sea, where China illegally claims territory belonging to Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, and regularly attacks non-Chinese ships legally present in their own domestic waters.
- Li claimed that American “freedom of navigation” exercises in the South China Sea, in which the U.S. Navy sails in international waters as a sign of rejection of China’s illegal claims, were in reality “hegemony of navigation” exercises and an attempt to “muddy the waters to rake in profits,” without elaborating. He urged neighbors to “firmly reject” freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea.
- Li then proceeded to address Taiwan, threatening to attack anyone who recognized Taiwan’s sovereignty.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- A TRADE war is brewing between the United States and China over rare earth elements, a key component in making a wide variety of high-technology products like computer memory, rechargeable batteries, and flat-screen monitors and televisions.
- China is reportedly considering suspending the export of “certain rare-earth magnet technology.” Such a move could have a deep impact since China has the world’s biggest reserves of rare earths.
- Shutting down rare earth exports is China’s way of getting back at the US for earlier restricting exports of advanced computer chips.
- Rare earth magnets are used in motors for electric vehicles (EVs) and other products such as wind turbines, cruise missiles and smartphones.
- There are an estimated 120 million tons of rare earth deposits worldwide, and the bulk of 44 million tons is in China.
- Refining rare earths, however, is a tedious, toxic process. It creates a dangerous cocktail of wastewater, heavy metals and substances such as cadmium, lead and radioactive thorium.
- China, however, is way ahead of the pack in scouring the seas for rare earths.
- That pretty much explains China’s compulsion for claiming practically all of the South China Sea as its territory.
- The potential mother lode of precious metals beneath the disputed waters could also explain the US’ determination to keep China’s aggressive moves in the region in check
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Chinese Jet Fighter Shadows U.S. Aircraft Over South China Sea
- A Chinese J-11 jet fighter, armed with four air-to-air missiles, appeared at the rear of an American P-8 patrol aircraft, passed above and settled a few hundred feet from the wing of the U.S. Navy plane.
- “American aircraft, this is the PLA air force. You are approaching Chinese airspace. Keep a safe distance or you will be intercepted,” a Chinese military ground station broadcast to the P-8, using the abbreviation for the People’s Liberation Army.
- The P-8 responded to the Chinese warning by saying it was flying in international airspace. The Chinese ground station replied: “No approaching any more or you will pay full responsibility.”
- Encounters such as the one on Friday over the South China Sea are now a near-daily occurrence, and they are becoming more dangerous, U.S. officials say.
- In December, the U.S. accused a Chinese jet fighter of flying within 20 feet of a U.S. reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea. Beijing said the U.S. plane veered suddenly toward the jet. China hasn’t responded to U.S. calls for talks about unsafe military encounters.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Asian countries push back on China demand
- Beijing is demanding that Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan surrender their territorial rights to the South China Sea. But all have rejected its claim of “historical” ownership of the 3.5 million square kilometer waterway.
- Now escalating military pressure from China is forcing the traditionally non-aligned South East Asian states to seek mutual and international support.
- “The situation in the South China Sea is far from stable,” Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) analyst Greg Poling says.
- “Chinese vessels engaged in dangerous and escalatory encounters with those of other states regularly throughout 2022.”
- Now Jakarta has put Beijing in a position where it must either put up or shut up.
- Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc produced a statement stating China’s artificial island fortresses and aggressive behavior at sea, “have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and may undermine peace, security and stability in the region”.
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Matthew 24:6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
Important Takeaways:
- Navy sends two carriers to disputed South China Sea
- Two Navy aircraft carrier strike groups are conducting operations in the disputed South China Sea amid heightened tensions over recent Chinese aerial incursions near Taiwan.
- The carrier groups led by the USS Carl Vinson and USS Abraham Lincoln are together practicing communications, anti-submarine warfare and air warfare drills and maritime interdiction operations in the strategic waterway that carries much of the world’s maritime commerce.
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