China-Taiwan tensions rise days into Biden presidency

 

video screenshot

 

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Chinese air force planes including 12 fighter jets entered Taiwan's air defence identification zone for a second day on Sunday, Taiwan said, as tensions rise near the island just days into U.S. President Joe Biden's new administration.

 

China views democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory, and has in the past few months increased military activity near the island.

 

But China's activities over the weekend mark a ratcheting up with fighters and bombers being dispatched rather than reconnaissance aircraft as had generally been the case in recent weeks.

 

After eight Chinese bomber planes and four fighter jets flew into Taiwan's defence zone on Saturday, between mainland Taiwan and the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands in the South China Sea, a further 15 flew into the same air space on Sunday, Taiwan said.

 

Taiwan's Defence Ministry said China sent six J-10 fighters, four J-16s, two SU-30s, a Y-8 reconnaissance aircraft and two Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft.

 

Taiwan's air force was sent up to respond, it added.

 

"Airborne alert sorties had been tasked, radio warnings issued and air defence missile systems deployed to monitor the activity," the ministry said.

 

A US aircraft-carrier group has entered the South China Sea just as rising tensions between China and Taiwan are causing concern in Washington. Lucy Fielder reports.

 

China has yet to comment. It has previously said such actions are aimed at defending the country's sovereignty and designed to act as a warning against "collusion" between the United States and Taiwan.

 

The move is likely to further concern Washington, which on Saturday urged China to stop pressuring Taiwan and reaffirmed its commitment to the island and desire to deepen ties.

 

Earlier on Sunday, the U.S. military said that a U.S. aircraft carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt had entered the disputed South China Sea to promote "freedom of the seas".

 

Biden was sworn into office only on Wednesday. His administration says its commitment to Taiwan is "rock-solid".

 

The United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.

 

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Edmund Blair and Nick Macfie)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-25

 

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15 minutes ago, webfact said:

The move is likely to further concern Washington, which on Saturday urged China to stop pressuring Taiwan and reaffirmed its commitment to the island and desire to deepen ties.

More cowardly sabre rattling from the Chinese! I hope eventually the USA will put them in their place!

 

18 minutes ago, webfact said:

Earlier on Sunday, the U.S. military said that a U.S. aircraft carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt had entered the disputed South China Sea to promote "freedom of the seas".

Good!

I would caution China,if the Biden administration says Taiwan is rock solid it’s best to take us at his word hands off!

A troll post and offensive meme  has been removed

A false / misleading post has been removed

6 hours ago, webfact said:

China has yet to comment. It has previously said such actions are aimed at defending the country's sovereignty and designed to act as a warning against "collusion" between the United States and Taiwan.

 

 

the Reuters report stated the above... but china would never use the 'taiwan'  word in their communiques!

5 hours ago, Tug said:

I would caution China,if the Biden administration says Taiwan is rock solid it’s best to take us at his word hands off!

 

It had better be true. Since GW Bush, China has pushed every incoming American president within their first year in office to see how far they could go.

8 hours ago, PatOngo said:

More cowardly sabre rattling from the Chinese! I hope eventually the USA will put them in their place!

 

Good!

And what happened before when US tried to put other countries in their place ?  Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc.  Their last success was Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that was a bomb against civilians, not fighting. China would <deleted> all over America !  America next war might be at home !!

1 minute ago, jaiyen said:

 China would <deleted> all over America ! 

So why have'nt they taken back Taiwan after 79 years???

22 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

So why have'nt they taken back Taiwan after 79 years???

Political calculation that taking Taiwan by force is high risks in terms of casualties and international condemnation in form of trade sanctions. Considering that the Taiwanese are fiercely nationalistic, China may win the battle but will inherit as long fight and ravaged economy. But should Taiwan declared independence and re-write the constitution, all bets are off.  

the world's people basically folded under the pressure of this pandemic with it's low fatality rates (relatively). IMO unless a country wants to commit suicide with all it's citizens, no one is going to do squat about the Chinese, all the rest of the noise is just the growling of a toothless dogs..  

That didn't take long. 

2 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

Political calculation that taking Taiwan by force is high risks in terms of casualties and international condemnation in form of trade sanctions. Considering that the Taiwanese are fiercely nationalistic, China may win the battle but will inherit as long fight and ravaged economy. But should Taiwan declared independence and re-write the constitution, all bets are off.  

There was a status quo where Taiwan would be left alone unless it declared independence. That has changed with Xi. With the situation in HK, popular opinion in Taiwan is increasingly uninterested in any association with China in the future. The US stance is a reaction to repressive and aggressive Chinese behavior.

 

For now the EU is disunited, but they have strategic interests that may trump the economic temptations of the Chinese market.

3 hours ago, jaiyen said:

And what happened before when US tried to put other countries in their place ?  Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc.  Their last success was Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that was a bomb against civilians, not fighting. China would <deleted> all over America !  America next war might be at home !!

While I am far from a "hawk" and know the faults of the US, I also know an attack on US assets would result in unifying Americans. Personally, i would favor only and international response demonstrating a commitment in refusing to recognize the unilateral claim by China of the South China Sea by sailing (without regard to their demand of having sovereignty) and flying international airspace to demonstrate Taiwan is not to be seized al la the South China Sea or Crimea by Russia. No international coordinated cooperation ... no unilateral US action.

When will the US ever learn that it is not the world’s “democratic” policemen, nor is its interference welcomed. More time should be spent on fixing their fractured democracy rather than running around the world poking their noses into the matters of other sovereign nations . 

3 hours ago, Mayhem11 said:

When will the US ever learn that it is not the world’s “democratic” policemen, nor is its interference welcomed. More time should be spent on fixing their fractured democracy rather than running around the world poking their noses into the matters of other sovereign nations . 

Ummm....many countries welcome the support of the US into their matters. Especially the smaller ones going up against China and Russia.

Bit tired of the Chinese for some reason provoke them back or take them out not for dinner though ????

I have to admit that it appears that China is taking a page out of the Ronald Reagan handbook. Reagan crippled the USSR by ramping up military spending at a time when the US economic engine was capable of out producing the USSR, thus, in effect, bankrupting the country. The parallels now are striking. The US has backed itself into a corner with a mountain of debt, while China, with a mountain of cash and the factories of the planet, is ramping up its military spending to levels that are unprecedented. And like the previous cold war, this one may be won without a single bomb being dropped.

19 hours ago, PatOngo said:

More cowardly sabre rattling from the Chinese! I hope eventually the USA will put them in their place!

Good!

Maybe it is time for SE Asia contries to take more responsibility? India, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia must take responsibility for their own region and stop expecting others to assume the burden.

 

11 hours ago, jaiyen said:

And what happened before when US tried to put other countries in their place ?  Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc.  Their last success was Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that was a bomb against civilians, not fighting. China would <deleted> all over America !  America next war might be at home !!

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were  proper military targets that housed munitions factories, and training facilities. In Japan there was no such thing was a civilian as everyone was in the war. Vietnam was a mess inherited from former colonial masters of France and Japan. Afghanistan was nothing about  putting a country in its place. If that was true, Pakistan would have been attacked. Standing up to expansionist China has nothing to do with putting it in its palce, but is all about protecting the free world from country that has consentration camps, and slave labor factories and is the world's worst environmental criminal. 

 

11 hours ago, PatOngo said:

So why have'nt they taken back Taiwan after 79 years???

Did not have the   military capability back then. Now they do, and they will try.

 

4 hours ago, Mayhem11 said:

When will the US ever learn that it is not the world’s “democratic” policemen, nor is its interference welcomed. More time should be spent on fixing their fractured democracy rather than running around the world poking their noses into the matters of other sovereign nations . 

China apologist talking point. Taiwan has defense agreement with USA.