President Xi Orders Chinese Army To “Prepare For War”

 

In just a few short days, China has proved that investors who have been underestimating the geopolitical risks stemming from the simmering tensions between the US and China over the latter’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and paranoia over the fate of Taiwan – a de facto independent state that President Xi Jinping is aggressively seeking to bring under the heel of Beijing – have done so at their own peril.

Earlier this week Xi Jinping, the Chinese emperor for life president provoked an angry rebuke from Taiwan’s pro-independence president when he demanded during a landmark speech earlier this week that Taiwan submit to “reunification” with Beijing.

And as if tensions between China and the international community weren’t already high enough amid a worsening economic slowdown that’s hurting global economic growth and a tenuous trade “truce” with the US,  in another speech delivered on Friday during a meeting of top officials from China’s Central Military Commission which he leads, Xi took his belligerent rhetoric one step further by issuing his first military command of 2019: that “all military units must correctly understand major national security and development trends, and strengthen their sense of unexpected hardship, crisis and battle.”

Vatican’s deal with Beijing could end Taiwan’s ties with its last European ally

The Wanchin Basilica in Pingtung County, Taiwan was built in 1870. / Wikipedia

 

A deal between the Vatican and China, which would grant China the right to nominate future bishops, would likely end the diplomatic relationship between the Holy See and Taiwan that began in 1942.

Reports of the pending agreement come amid other reports of the suppression of religious expression throughout China.

A Human Rights Watch report estimates that over a million Muslim Uighurs are currently detained in re-education camps in the western province of Xinjiang. AP reported last week that reported that China’s government is seeking to drive citizens away from organized religion and toward the atheist Communist Party through scare tactics such as Bible-burning, shuttering churches, destroying crosses and forcing individuals to renounce their faith on paper.

China on Pace to Dethrone the US

 

(ANTIMEDIA Op-ed) — “Not sure whether China will be nice to self-ruled Taiwan? Wait until after the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party. What’s in store for the hotly disputed, resource-rich South China Sea, where Beijing has taken a military and technological lead since 2010? Wait until after the Congress. Coffee maker wouldn’t start today? Wait until after the Congress. Wait. But you get the idea: This event, due to start Oct. 18, is monumental enough to put a lot of Asia on hold — and make it worry.”

That’s how Ralph Jennings opened his piece for Forbes on Wednesday. Humor aside, the point he’s making is the same one I made at the end of September — that China’s upcoming National Congress is a really big deal. China sets the regional tone on nearly all matters, as Jennings points out in his article:

“Chinese foreign and economic policies shape much of Asia. China’s ever-growing efforts to build and fund infrastructure around the subcontinent through initiatives such as One Belt, One Road have obvious impact on smaller countries that might otherwise struggle to finance their own projects. Neighbors from Japan to India are watching China for foreign policy cues that affect their iffy diplomatic relations with the region’s major power.”

Taiwan war games simulate China invasion

 

Taiwan forces simulated an invasion by China Thursday as part of live-fire war games against a backdrop of rising tensions with Beijing.

The annual drills are Taiwan’s biggest military exercise and mocked up a scenario in which Chinese troops launched an amphibious assault.

They took place on the outlying Penghu Islands, which sit in the strait that separates Taiwan from China.

China will ‘take off the gloves’ if Trump continues on Taiwan, state media warns

Taiwan military march during the National Day celebrations. Photo: AP

 

Beijing: China will “take off the gloves” and take strong action if US President-elect Donald Trump continues to provoke Beijing over Taiwan once he assumes office, two leading state-run newspapers said on Monday.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Friday, Trump said the “One China” policy was up for negotiation. China’s foreign ministry, in response, said “One China” was the foundation of China-US ties and was non-negotiable.

Trump broke with decades of precedent last month by taking a congratulatory telephone call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, angering Beijing, which sees Taiwan as part of China.

“If Trump is determined to use this gambit in taking office, a period of fierce, damaging interactions will be unavoidable, as Beijing will have no choice but to take off the gloves,” the English-language China Daily said.

Xi meets Taiwan opposition leader, stresses ‘One China’

Chinese president Xi Jinping met the leader of Taiwan’s opposition party Tuesday as Beijing’s relations with the island’s new president worsen.

Xi met Kuomintang (KMT) leader Hung Hsiu-chu at the Great Hall of the People, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Retired PLA general calls on mainland China forces to practise retaking of Taiwan

Former PLA general Wang Hongguang, seen in an undated photo, has urged mainland forces to ready to retake Taiwan. Photo: SCMP Pictures

 

 

Remarks on website of hawkish Global Times seen to increase pressure on Taiwan

A retired PLA general has called on mainland forces to begin practising to retake Taiwan, comments Taiwanese analysts said were meant to put more pressure on the island’s president, Tsai ­Ing-wen.

Wang Hongguang, former deputy commander of the Nanjing military area command, said the People’s Liberation Army Navy should step up naval training to seal off the Taiwan Strait, and map out the best routes for its submarines to prepare for attacks.

U.S. slams Taiwan president’s planned visit to contested South China Sea island

Washington under the current Obama administration have chosen to take sides of its traditional adversaries instead of its traditional allies. Iran being the first major example with the nuclear ‘deal’, turning the entire Middle East into a powder keg and putting Israel’s existence into jeopardy. Now they’re playing into China’s hands by slamming Taiwan, an independent nation the United States is legally bound to protect and defend — despite the interpretations of the Taiwan Relations Act by those who despise Taiwan.

 

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s planned trip to the Taiwanese-held island of Itu Aba in the disputed South China Sea is “extremely unhelpful” and won’t do anything to resolve disputes over the waterway, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.

Ma’s office earlier announced that the president, who steps down in May, would fly to Itu Aba on Thursday to offer Chinese New Year wishes to residents on the island, mainly Taiwanese coastguard personnel and environmental scholars.

Taiwan Applies to Join AIIB Under ‘One China,’ Sparking Protests

Taiwan applies to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, provoking protests in Taipei.

Dozens of young protesters clashed with police and security guards outside the Presidential Office in Taipei on the evening of March 31 after the government unilaterally announced that Taiwan would join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), an international financial institution initiated by China.

CHINA’S String of Pearls Strategy: Why is the U.S. AFRAID and how does it affect us?

Modernising the military is one of China’s four pillars in its modernisation drive which includes education, industry and infrastructure, military and agriculture.

China’s largest strategic concern – regime survival and domestic stability – directly links to its economy. To sustain its economic growth China has to be depending increasingly on its external supply of energy, raw materials and food. So the development of Sea Line of Communication or (SLOCs) is vitally important as more than 80% of China’s trade go through the sea. The majority of the energy comes from the country’s coal about 65 %, 30% by oil and remaining by gas, nuclear and hydroelectric power.