China rattles sabres as world battles coronavirus pandemic

By Yew Lun Tian, Ben Blanchard

 

FILE PHOTO: File photo of a riot police officer holding a pepper spray as he tries to disperse anti-government protesters after a vigil to mourn student’s death, in Hong Kong, China March 8, 2020. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

 

BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) - China is becoming increasingly assertive in the region as the coronavirus crisis eases on the mainland while raging elsewhere in the world, with a crackdown in Hong Kong and sabre-rattling around Taiwan and in the South China Sea.

 

The U.S. State Department said China was taking advantage of the region’s focus on the pandemic to “coerce its neighbours”.

 

In a significant strike against democracy activists in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong, police in the city arrested 15 people on Saturday, just days after a senior Beijing official called for the local government to introduce national security legislation “as soon as possible.”

 

The arrests drew a strong rebuke from the United States and Britain.

 

China has also been flying regular fighter patrols near Chinese-claimed Taiwan, to the island’s anger, and has sent a survey ship flanked by coast guard and other vessels into the South China Sea, prompting the United States to accuse Beijing of “bullying behaviour.”

 

“Now that the domestic coronavirus outbreak has been stabilised, China wants to send an important signal to the world that its military and foreign affairs, previously put on hold, are back on track,” said Cheng Xiaohe, associate professor of international politics at Beijing’s Renmin University.

 

China describes Taiwan, Hong Kong and the South China Sea as its most sensitive territorial issues.

 

The most dramatic actions have been close to Taiwan, the self-ruled island China claims as its own. Beijing has been angered by moves by President Tsai Ing-wen during the outbreak to assert the island’s separate identity from China.

 

In the latest uptick in tensions, China’s navy this month sailed a battle group, led by the country’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, around Taiwan’s east coast and has mounted regular air force drills near the island.

 

Lo Chih-cheng, a senior legislator with Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, said China was showing that its military power had not been affected by the virus and that things had returned to normal.

 

“The other aspect is of course to test whether the combat strength of the U.S. military has been reduced due to the impact of the epidemic,” he said.

 

The pandemic’s first cases were reported in late December in China’s Wuhan city. China has reported almost 83,000 cases and more than 4,600 deaths, but the situation there is now largely under control.

 

The United States has by far the world’s largest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 780,000 infections and over 42,300 deaths, according to a Reuters tally.

 

The United States has berthed one of its carriers in the region, the Theodore Roosevelt, in Guam, with nearly 14% of the crew testing positive for the coronavirus.

 

China’s Foreign Ministry said in a short statement to Reuters: “No matter when or where, China resolutely safeguards its sovereignty, security and development interests”. China’s Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

 

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus expressed serious concern about recent Chinese moves.

 

“The United States strongly opposes PRC efforts to take advantage of the region’s focus on addressing the COVID pandemic in order to coerce its neighbours in the region. We call for the PRC to live up to its international obligations,” she said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

 

U.S. MILITARY MOVES

 

The U.S. military has also carried out its own South China Sea drills, and sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait, most recently this month on the same day that Chinese fighter jets and nuclear-capable bombers drilled in waters close to the island.

 

Rear Admiral Fred Kacher, commander of the USS America Expeditionary Strike Group, told Reuters that his forces had interacted with Chinese naval forces in the South China Sea this week.

 

“All our interactions continue to be safe and professional with them,” Kacher said in a telephone interview from the USS America, an amphibious assault ship.

 

China’s navy says the Liaoning was heading for the South China Sea as part of routine exercise plans, and that it would continue with such drills to “speed up the increase of the combat capability of the carrier group system”.

 

Beijing this month denounced criticism from the United States of its recent South China Sea moves, saying Washington had been using the South China Sea issue to smear China.

 

China claims much of the resource-rich South China Sea, also a major trade route. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei all have competing claims with China.

 

“China’s recent activities in the South China Sea and elsewhere in Asia have shown its intention to further militarise the area,” said Ha Hoang Hop at the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

 

Former Philippines foreign minister Albert Del Rosario said on Sunday that China “has been relentless in exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic as it continues to pursue its illegal and expansive claims in the South China Sea.”

 

A senior Taiwan official told Reuters that its interpretation was that Beijing’s aggressiveness was due to President Xi Jinping’s need to boost his prestige at home as Beijing tackles mounting international criticism over the handling of the pandemic, a slowing economy and rising tensions with Washington.

 

“If the Communists need a conflict, Taiwan will be their top choice,” said the official, who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter. “But it is highly risky for Xi’s regime and we do not think they will rush into danger.”

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-21

 

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At the moment the west is militarily more powerful than China, this will not last much longer. If the west does not take decisive action now, it will soon be too late.  

China's timing for a military show is rather disturbing, and their Hongkong activities equally so, is it all part of a sinister master plan 

14 minutes ago, anterian said:

At the moment the west is militarily more powerful than China, this will not last much longer. If the west does not take decisive action now, it will soon be too late.  

Agreed the time is now or never time to put an end to this nonsense

Is that why SARS-CoV-2 was let out of the box? Give the West a massive distraction, weaken it, to finally take over Taiwan, Hong Kong and the South China Sea? Sounds like a page from "The Art of War".

If China proceeds to use the extreme damage CoV2 is inflicting on the world for military, economic, strategic, and territorial gains, then its a biological weapon. Its exact origin matters little.

 

I would hope, whether natural or lab accident, China would take an open, conciliatory, and helpful approach to others. But, after covering up every step of the way and now becoming aggressive I guess that's an answer.

7 minutes ago, yuyiinthesky said:

Is that why SARS-CoV-2 was let out of the box? Give the West a massive distraction, weaken it, to finally take over Taiwan, Hong Kong and the South China Sea? Sounds like a page from "The Art of War".

More likely from Art of the deal “ use your leverage”. 

13 minutes ago, yuyiinthesky said:

Is that why SARS-CoV-2 was let out of the box? Give the West a massive distraction, weaken it, to finally take over Taiwan, Hong Kong and the South China Sea? Sounds like a page from "The Art of War".

... or Apocalypse Ni Hao 

10 minutes ago, rabas said:

I would hope, whether natural or lab accident, China would take an open, conciliatory, and helpful approach to others. But, after covering up every step of the way and now becoming aggressive I guess that's an answer.

The CCP is "playing for keeps". It is time to shift gears. The policy of the last 30 years is a proven failure.

I labeled the test tubes with each virus.  1.  American Azzwhooping     2.  Korean Kandy Krush   3.  Japanese Jenga  4.  European Earthquake

 

400 viruses, none can affect the Chinese.  step 1

step 2 is to push down markets to get people mad at foreigners

step 3  attack America

step 4.....look at a map again, that blue stuff is difficult to cross

step 5.....look once more......all those fast things in the air are faster than your things in the air

step 6.....realize blocking facebook won't help

step 7.....understand you would have to defeat every civilized country at once

step 8......check your bank account, that will be gone soon

 

 

3 hours ago, anterian said:

At the moment the west is militarily more powerful than China, this will not last much longer. If the west does not take decisive action now, it will soon be too la

China has become what Japan was in WWII.  But China is far larger and more powerful and has nuclear warheads plus biological viral pathogens to kill and cripple us economically.  China is moving in for Check Mate on the global chess board.  

A troll post and a reply has been removed. 

14 hours ago, smedly said:

China's timing for a military show is rather disturbing, and their Hongkong activities equally so, is it all part of a sinister master plan 

Unfortunately, it has been a 'master plan' since Mao's cultural revolution. Much of the remaining ancient culture was overturned in a lust for power and dominance by the communist party under the guise that ancient culture was holding them back. I don't deny that clinging to ancient culture can be hinder development of a society but the communist party wanted to destroy their rich and varied history and aimed for total control. They had little respect for their own culture, they care even less for anyone else's. Like a giant octopus their tentacles creep slowly. In the last few days Vietnam has told China to stop encroaching its territorial waters. We saw last year of the military deals between Cambodia & China so Vietnam and Laos will be next.

Quote

The United States has berthed one of its carriers in the region

Quote

The U.S. military has also carried out its own South China Sea drills, and sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait,

No provocation there then. 

They just won't accept their days as the big honcho are over. They regularly get their butts served to them on a plate by nations of goat herders, what do they think China would do?

Reading the Khmer Times. Cambodia is nothing more than a district of China already, run by the CCP. Hopefully Vietnam does not give in to their rule.

15 hours ago, timendres said:

The CCP is "playing for keeps". It is time to shift gears. The policy of the last 30 years is a proven failure.

 

It will be like the Nazi before WWII... All the signs were there and the Western powers did nothing to prevent it !!!

Hitler didn't even try to hide what he was doing and still they didn't react until it was too late...

17 hours ago, anterian said:

At the moment the west is militarily more powerful than China, this will not last much longer. If the west does not take decisive action now, it will soon be too late.  

 

China has never been successful as a military power. They have consistently poorly performed. There main strength was in a willingness to sacrifice large numbers knowing they can replace them from their vast population.

 

China copies. We know they have no respect for IP. So they copy the West's military hardware and technology.

 

Have you bought Chinese copies of things? How good was it? IME their quality is much better than it was 30+ years ago when I first visited China on business. But still far to variable and not as high or consistent as the West.

 

China is not known to be aggressive military. Sabre rattling sure. But not keen on getting involved so much because of all those bloody noses in the past. Much much better at subtle economic warfare, over much longer time periods than the West are comfortable with.

 

China recognizes that their economic expansion, which they'll increase by taking advantage of the Corvid pandemic, requires protection. It's always been the Chinese way to bluff that protection and hope that bluff is never called.

 

Let's see what happens when Japan starts moving industry out of China and others follow.

If I get a free young Chinese woman to agree the take over, I'm all for it

The Chinese know trump is a paper tiger that beeing said they know we are still very powerful imo they will push but not that far 

Pariah nation (CCP) has drawn the ire of RoW.  China needs to pay reparations. They are nobody's friend.

1 hour ago, Baerboxer said:

China has never been successful as a military power.

Hmmmm... like 4000 years never? Seems to me your statement is a slight exaggeration...

 

No need for the second amendment without that sweet Chinese black powder.

Edited April 22, 20206 yr by mikebike

4 hours ago, TKDfella said:

Unfortunately, it has been a 'master plan' since Mao's cultural revolution. Much of the remaining ancient culture was overturned in a lust for power and dominance by the communist party under the guise that ancient culture was holding them back. I don't deny that clinging to ancient culture can be hinder development of a society but the communist party wanted to destroy their rich and varied history and aimed for total control. They had little respect for their own culture, they care even less for anyone else's. Like a giant octopus their tentacles creep slowly. In the last few days Vietnam has told China to stop encroaching its territorial waters. We saw last year of the military deals between Cambodia & China so Vietnam and Laos will be next.

The "Cultural Revolution" was a distraction engineered by paranoid Mao to eliminate perceived enemies, but unfortunately it got out of hand. While many old things were destroyed, the cultural bad habits were not in the least affected, so now the latest resulting horror is Covid. Some quite astute commenters here wonder whether it is not a gambit for taking over Taiwan.

 

Taiwan did rather well in dealing with Covid. They are quite conscious that a pandemic could be one strategy for terminating their Chinese democratic experiment. This democracy puts the lie to Xi's "thought" that his version of Chinese totalitarian government is the suitable (inevitable?) model for much of the developing world. 

Something has got to give. Another gulf of Tonkin incident perhaps 

30 minutes ago, mikebike said:

Hmmmm... like 4000 years never? Seems to me your statement is a slight exaggeration...

 

No need for the second amendment without that sweet Chinese black powder.

The main "success" was the Yuan Dynasty, i.e. non-Chinese Mongols, unless we want to consider takeover of Xinjiang by Manchus and Tibet by Mao as success.... As for Korea, the "success" was by default. Had the US not a a hat salesman as president, we could have told them to back off when they bailed out Kim Il Sung. Think how things in Korea could be different today!

13 minutes ago, placnx said:

The main "success" was the Yuan Dynasty, i.e. non-Chinese Mongols, unless we want to consider takeover of Xinjiang by Manchus and Tibet by Mao as success.... As for Korea, the "success" was by default. Had the US not a a hat salesman as president, we could have told them to back off when they bailed out Kim Il Sung. Think how things in Korea could be different today!

Regard historical lessons or not, to date Taiwanese officially call themselves "Republic of China", bears flag from before-1949 Chinese government, and in theory claims whole Mainland as rightful territory. Taiwan also had island disputes with countries other than China, likely Japan, SEA countries etc. 

 

Sometimes Taiwanese people sick of their Rep.Office attitudes( heard many blames on Bangkok one ) and nepotic shenanigans they also go Chinese Embassy for paperworks ???? Imo. to establish own identity really should stop taking advantage of Mainland Chinese policies

 

Edited April 22, 20206 yr by Coremouse

Blah, change the record. Let’s just get it on already. Someone make a move!

12 minutes ago, placnx said:

The main "success" was the Yuan Dynasty, i.e. non-Chinese Mongols...

Like most you make the mistake of believing "China" was a massive, homogeneous country for 4000 years. Many victories, and defeats when you look at it tribally. Not much different than Europe's distant past.

52 minutes ago, placnx said:

The "Cultural Revolution" was a distraction engineered by paranoid Mao to eliminate perceived enemies, but unfortunately it got out of hand. While many old things were destroyed, the cultural bad habits were not in the least affected, so now the latest resulting horror is Covid. Some quite astute commenters here wonder whether it is not a gambit for taking over Taiwan.

 

Taiwan did rather well in dealing with Covid. They are quite conscious that a pandemic could be one strategy for terminating their Chinese democratic experiment. This democracy puts the lie to Xi's "thought" that his version of Chinese totalitarian government is the suitable (inevitable?) model for much of the developing world. 

Hmm, 'but unfortunately it got out of hand.' not quite the term I would use but I won't argue with it either. As I have mentioned on other Chinese related posts, having spent time there among the natives (that didn't please the local Communist party but that's another story) I learned about cultural suppression etc and the penalties imposed. We can see how China (the Com. ruling party that is) keeps people in line in that a Tibetan can still be arrested for an utterance about the the escaped Dalai Lama and even worse for possession of any picture or image. China considers that Chinese should be the worlds first language and there is only one way that could be achieved.

5 hours ago, car720 said:

Xi Jingping's next move will be to take out Guam.  Then Taiwan.  The rest he can just buy.  Europe, including UK, just don't care and the US are in trouble.  The question is where will Russia stand?

A Nostradamus prediction, belive it or not, The  Bear will join  with the Eagle to fight the Yellow Peril.

 

To say the UK does not care,

If America had sent troops to reinforce Britain and its allies in 1945 , Britain was on the cusp of beating  Ho Chi Minh, But Macarthur  refused, He wanted to take the Japanese Surrender In Tokyo Bay, There would have been no Vietnam War. 

If America had expected the hand of friendship offer twice by Mao Se Tung  maybe there would not be a China thats so powerful today. 

Maybe if America had heeded Winstons Churchills advice to continue on to Moscow, maybe there would be no Powerful Russia or at least A more friendly one.

Google Britains Vietnam War.

Edited April 22, 20206 yr by Thongkorn

42 minutes ago, Thongkorn said:

Nostradamus prediction, belive it or not, The  Bear will join  with the Eagle to fight the Yellow Peril.

Nostradamus prediction has a degree of accuracy and against the Japanese. Days of Chinese yellow peril ends after the 1980 in Indo-China. China is not a global military threat and they have undergo dramatic changes in ideology since Deng Xiaoping. They will rather conquer the world with soft powers which is what they doing.