Xi Jinping will address Taiwan issue before 2022: scholar

Translation: There will Taiwanese unification with China before 2022, either by war or diplomacy.

 

Xi Jinping’s efforts to transform China’s image into that of a major world power must include an attempt to address the Taiwan issue before the end of his time in power, says Jin Canrong, head of the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China in Beijing.

In a media interview on Tuesday, Jin said Xi’s announcement at the UN General Assembly in New York that China will create an 8,000-strong peacekeeping standby force is an “aggressive signal” that he wants China to develop the image of a major world leader like the United States.

New law may authorise Chinese military to fight terrorists abroad

What people don’t realize is that this new law can likely be widely interpreted to justify an attack on any country. It will all naturally depend on how ‘terrorism’ is defined within. Nations in the vicinity of China, espcially Taiwan, should be giving special attention to developments like this.

 

China was weighing up a proposal to let its troops head overseas on counterterrorism missions, analysts said, citing military officials attending a security forum in Beijing last week.

The draft of the country’s first counterterrorism law includes clauses that would authorise the army and the paramilitary police to carry out counterterrorism missions abroad if the deployment had the consent of the countries involved, Chinese delegates told the Xiangshan Forum last week, according to analysts at the regional security meeting.

From reef to biggest island in Spratlys, and China’s not done yet at Fiery Cross

China has turned a strategically important reef into probably the biggest island in the Spratlys, Chinese scholars say, and the expansion is expected to continue.

Analysts said the continued expansion of Fiery Cross Reef, which China calls Yongshu Reef, is expected eventually to provide a vital outpost for Chinese military and civilian commercial activities in disputed areas of the South China Sea, many of which are closer to other claimants’ coasts than to China’s.

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Beijing has yet to openly admit its plans to artificially expand reefs in the sea into islands.

Experts: China And Japan Are Not Going To Back Down From Each Other Any Time Soon

East Asia is trapped in a vicious cycle of escalating tensions, with China’s rising power giving Japanese hawks legitimacy in their bid to bolster the military — exactly what Beijing says it fears.

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“This is a battle about pride,” said Takehiko Yamamoto, international security professor at Japan’s Waseda University. “I cannot, for now, see there being any compromises.”