The Taiwan count down has begun!

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Beijing Biden has invited China to invade Taiwan!

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Key Takeaways

• A recent poll revealed broad backing among Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) supporters for a joint KMT-TPP presidential ticket. The polling data is consistent with ISW’s assessments that the two candidates will form a joint ticket, but such a ticket is unlikely to capture the entirety of each candidate’s support base.
• The DPP and KMT are seizing on the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) probes into Foxconn. The DPP aims for Terry Gou to stay in the presidential race, while the KMT wants him to drop out.
• The PRC Coast Guard and maritime militia committed aggression against Filipino ships near the Second Thomas Shoal. The PRC naval aggression contradicts the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) claim to build a peaceful Asia.
• The National People’s Congress officially removed former Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang and Defense Minister Li Shangfu from their posts on October 24.
• The CCP is using the Israel-Hamas War to message its status as leader of the Global South and convey that the United States is not a responsible actor in the Middle East.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/china-taiwan-weekly-update-october-26-2023

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China’s Brazen Provocation Puts Taiwan’s Democracy in Peril – Is This the Spark That Ignites Global Conflict?

Beijing’s relentless aggression toward Taiwan has now taken a huge step as China deployed a further 103 warplanes to the surrounding border of the territory, with US and Canada ships navigating the waters, keeping a close eye on the action.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/chinas-brazen-provocation-puts-taiwans-democracy-in-peril-%E2%80%93-is-this-the-spark-that-ignites-global-conflict/ss-AA1j2ti8#image=1

Japan has appointed a serving government official to act as its de facto defense attache in Taiwan, four sources said, elevating security ties in a move likely to anger China, which claims the strategic, democratic island as its own.

Japan does not have any formal diplomatic representation in Taiwan, and instead handles bilateral relations through the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association in Taipei, which is chiefly staffed by reassigned foreign and trade ministry officials. The defense attache role, however, has until now been held by a retired Japan Self Defense Force officer to avoid antagonizing China.

He has been joined by an official dispatched by the defense ministry to enhance information gathering and communicate with Taiwan’s military, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

It is also “symbolic” of Japan’s support for Taiwan, said one of the people who know about the appointment. “Taiwan had been asking for an active-duty defense official to fill the post,” he added.

Highlighting Tokyo’s nervousness about Beijing’s reaction, the move was halted last year after a Japanese media report about the plan, the sources said.

Japan’s defense ministry said that it would only pursue “non-governmental” ties to Taiwan, a Japanese colony from 1895-1945, that were within the bounds of a 1972 joint statement that recognized Beijing as the sole legitimate government of China.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment when asked about the new defense attache but said it “will continue to deepen cooperation with similar-minded partners such as Japan.”

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15004254

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As China’s military threats intensify, Taiwan’s military is reported to be planning to establish 12 missile bases by 2026. The missile bases will be equipped with the Tien Kung 3 missile system, developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, Taiwan’s state-run defense research institute. The Tien Kung 3 missile, a high-altitude anti-aircraft missile designed to intercept Chinese ballistic missiles, is also called the Taiwanese version of THAAD.

According to Taiwanese media on the 23rd, this information was included in a report submitted by the Ministry of Defense on the 20th. The report also mentioned plans for equipment upgrades to meet air defense requirements, as the currently operational Tien Kung 2 missile is losing its mobility against China’s increasingly powerful aerial threats.

The National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology plans to complete the upgrade of the Tien Kung 3 by this year. The upgraded Tien Kung 3 missile system, which integrates long-range early warning radar information, is expected to improve the defense efficiency against ballistic missiles, according to the Ministry of Defense.

The Taiwan Ministry of Defense stated that the construction of the missile bases is progressing in two stages. Six missile bases will start construction in 2022 and are expected to be completed by the end of 2025, while the remaining six will be built from 2023 to 2026. The specific locations have not been disclosed yet.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/taiwan-responds-to-china-s-threats-with-plans-to-establish-12-missile-bases-by-2026/ar-AA1iL6U7

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On Monday night, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu delivered a talk at La Trobe University in Melbourne. Due to Taiwan’s unique status in international affairs, outreach and engagements like this serve an important purpose in explaining Taiwan’s interest and perspectives, and building empathy and international cooperation that can serve as a bulwark against China’s attempts to absorb the territory. Australia is seen by Taiwan as a key player in constructing this resilience.

In 2016, Taiwan launched its New Southbound Policy. The policy was designed to strengthen Taiwan’s relationships with the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), six states in South Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Its objective, alongside enhancing shared prosperity, is to build mutual interests and habits of cooperation in Taiwan’s near region that hinge upon its remaining an open and democratic society.

https://thediplomat.com/2023/10/in-australia-taiwans-foreign-minister-appeals-to-shared-values/

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The Chinese continue to beat the drums of war!

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Key Takeaways

• The Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) agreed to cooperate in the legislative elections and will likely form a joint presidential ticket before the January 13 presidential election.
• The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is interfering in the Taiwanese election to harm the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) chances of victory in the January 13 presidential and legislative elections.
• High-level meetings between PRC and United States officials are unlikely to mitigate People’s Liberation Army (PLA) military coercion targeting Taiwan.
• The PRC is shaping the information environment to blame the United States for potential future geopolitical incidents in the South China Sea.
• The PRC is using the Israel-Hamas War to enhance its image as an international mediator in the Middle East.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/china-taiwan-weekly-update-november-2-2023

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China keeps up military pressure on Taiwan, sending 43 planes and 7 ships near the island!

Taiwan says China has sent another 43 military aircraft and seven ships near the self-ruled island, the latest sign that Beijing plans no let-up in its campaign of harassment, threats, and intimidation!

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan said Wednesday that China sent 43 military aircraft and seven ships near the self-ruled island, the latest sign that Beijing plans no let-up in its campaign of harassment, threats and intimidation.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry said the figure was current for the 24 hours up to 6:00 a.m. Wednesday and that 37 of the aircraft had crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait, which China no longer recognizes as an informal divider between the sides.

It said Taiwan had monitored the situation, scrambled jet fighters, dispatched ships and activated land-based missile systems, all standard responses to Chinese military activities, which include crossing into Taiwan's air defense identification zone but not into its actual airspace.

Such Chinese maneuvers have become frequent and aggressive since then- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022. China suspended military communication with the U.S. to show its displeasure over her trip to Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory to be brought under under its control by force if necessary.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/china-military-pressure-taiwan-sending-43-planes-7-104531993

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As the world watches the new war unfolding between Israel, Hamas, and other Iranian proxies – and perhaps remembers occasionally to check in on the grinding struggle in Ukraine – far away in the Indo-Pacific China is asserting itself more and more. Beijing’s latest move has been to send its aircraft carrier Shandong out through the Bashi Channel for maneuvers once again, this time with an extra threat added.

The Bashi Channel is situated strategically between Taiwan and the Philippines and serves as the main gateway between the western Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. This move by China is the most recent in a string of provocative exercises that the carrier Shandong has carried out in the seas around Taiwan this year, including a symbolic transit of the Taiwan Strait in June. By operating to the east of Taiwan, as the Shandong is doing once again, Beijing places its naval forces between the island democracy and any help that might arrive in the event of war.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/meanwhile-in-the-western-pacific-china-is-getting-ready-to-isolate-taiwan/ar-AA1jkz3G

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It’s time to move beyond the question of whether the United States is, or should be, in a cold war with China, for China’s cold war with the United States is well underway.

In fact, China’s multi-pronged “struggle” against America and the Free World has hot war dimensions. In the varied research areas of human rights and international institutions, cyber and information domains, military strategy, and global economics, analysts use words in common to describe China’s behavior. In collectively pointing to China’s coercion, aggression, deception, violations, threats, and attacks, they portray the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) domestic, regional, and global policies as definitively hostile.

China today is expansionist, fiercely anti-democratic, and determined to subvert the post-World War II, U.S.-oriented world order. Toward that end, it is deploying every grey-zone tool conceivable while building a massive military arsenal, honing war plans, and mobilizing forces to seize Taiwan. A drive for internal and external predominance that eschews accommodation is manifest everywhere: in omnipresent domestic repression and terrible atrocities against “minorities”; in the exploitation, intimidation and control that accompanies the CCP’s expansive military and economic footprint; in the worldwide exportation of authoritarianism, surveillance, and propaganda; in bellicosity and territorial and maritime encroachments against neighbors; and in the China-Russia-Iran-North Korea axis which aggressively challenges the West and backs other dictators and extremists.

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/china%E2%80%99s-cold-war-america-has-already-gone-hot-207157

[Truman62]

DvDemented just LOVES to type to itself.

STILL waiting for that invasion 2 years later...

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Truman says screw Taiwan and we don't need Computers!