The United States and Taiwan have Faith in the Security of the Free, Open, and Stable Region, as Biden announced at G20 summit in Indonesia
Biden could make a similar statement when he sits down with Xi on Monday. Biden didn’t say whether he would reiterate his commitment to defend Taiwan in person.
In November, Biden met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in-person for the first time during his presidency at the G20 summit in Indonesia. Biden said the meeting was open and candid, and cast doubt on an invasion of Taiwan.
While chatting with the US president over the telephone in July, Xi warned Biden against overstepping and that those who play with fire will be doomed.
The Biden administration quietly tried to prevent Pelosi from taking that trip, which caused a decline in relations between the US and China. Beijing launched military drills around the island and shut off all communication with the US in order to prevent any kind of conflict.
Taiwan is not very far off the coast of China. For more than 70 years, the two sides have been governed separately, but that hasn’t stopped China’s ruling Communist Party from claiming the island as its own – despite having never controlled it.
We agree with what we signed on to a long time ago. And that there’s ‘one China’ policy, and Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence. We are not moving – we’re not encouraging their being independent. … That’s their decision,” he said.
China frequently sends military aircraft and warships into the Taiwan air identification zone. That has prompted Taiwan to boost military purchases from the U.S., expand domestic production of local planes, submarines and fighting ships, and extend compulsory military service for all males.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group in the Western Pacific conducted naval exercises on Friday in an effort to build up their strength in the region.
On Friday, US President Joe Biden signed a sweeping new defense bill into law that included the establishment of a defense modernization program for Taiwan to deter Chinese aggression.
The Taiwanese defense ministry has faith in its own security, it stated Sunday night. “The actions of the Chinese Communist Party highlighted its mentality of using force to resolve differences, which undermines regional peace and stability,” it said.
The cooperation between Taiwan and the United States will safeguard a free, open, and stable region. The military will continue to strengthen military preparedness based on enemy threats and self-defense needs,” it added.
The incident of a Chinese reconnaissance jet to Japan’s Okinawa island in the December 21st (December 21) airborne exercise on December 21
Talks on climate cooperation are expected to resume as well as part of a larger set of agreements between China and the US, with China having previously halted discussions due to Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
Last Friday, China also conducted a series of military drills close to Japan’s southern Okinawa island in the Pacific Ocean, according to Japanese authorities.
The Chinese navy’s Liaoning aircraft carrier, as well as two destroyers and a frigate, sailed about 560 kilometers (about 348 miles) east of Kitadaito Island, located off Okinawa’s east coast, on December 21, according to Japan’s Joint Staff. The vessels sailed east of Okinotorishima on December 22.
180 carrier-based fighter jets and helicopter took off and landed at the Liaoning aircraft carrier on Friday in Japan.
Two escort ships were sent by the Japan’s Ministry of Defense and Self-Defense Forces to collect information about the situation.
Beijing claims a large part of the South China Sea as its own, including islands that have been militarized.
The country has unveiled a new national security plan that signals it is going to build up its military in the face of increasing threats from China, North Korea and Russia.
The interception of a United States Air Force reconnaissance jet by a Chinese fighter over the South China Sea last month should be seen as a potential warning of how easily, and quickly things can go terribly wrong – raising the risk of a deadly military confrontation between the two powers, analysts say.
It released a video of the incident showing the Chinese fighter flying to the left of and slightly above the four-engine US jet, similar to the Boeing 707 airliners of the 1960s and ’70s, and then gradually closing closer to its nose before moving away.
It has been over a month since a suspected Chinese balloon entered American airspace. In that time China’s response has shifted from conciliatory to indignant, and now, as the fallout continues, to outright confrontational.
It’s not uncommon for disputes in the South China Sea to include airspace above the islands and waters it claims as its own, even if other countries don’t recognize it.
The statement said that the U.S. Indo-Pacific Joint Force will continue to fly, sail and operate in and out of international airspace with due regard for the safety of all vessels and aircraft.
China frequently challenges military planes from the US and its allies over the South China Sea. A 2001 in-air collision resulted in the death of the pilot of the Chinese plane.
Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here.
Why did the 135 get so close to each other? Airborne collisions of a jet by a suspected enemy plane caused by an intl missile intercept
Aviation and military experts contacted by CNN who watched the two videos said it appeared the Chinese jet was firmly in the wrong and had no reason to get as close as it did to the American plane.
The 135 is not a fighter plane. Why does the PLAN consider it necessary to intercept carrying missiles when the intent was to visually identify the aircraft? Doing this is potentially dangerous and could lead to a major and tragic incident,” Layton said.
The intent of the intercept was to visually identify the aircraft, and the fighter could have stayed several miles away and competed that task. He said that getting closer wouldn’t bring any gains.
The Chinese response is a fictional one. An airliner-sized aircraft does not aggressively turn into an armed fighter.
But Hopkins also said the US military risked blowing the incident out of proportion in saying the US jet had to take “evasive maneuvers,” a term he described as “overly dramatic.”
“These are no different than a driver adjusting her position to avoid a temporary lane incursion by an adjacent driver,” Hopkins said. The US response is just theater and it creates an exaggerated sense of danger.
“Flying aircraft close to each other at 500 miles per hour with unfriendly intentions is generally unsafe,” said Blake Herzinger, a nonresident fellow and Indo-Pacific defense policy expert at the American Enterprise Institute.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/03/china/us-china-south-china-sea-intercept-intl-hnk-mic-ml/index.html
Insights into the State of the Art from the United States Concerning the Chinese Warfare and the Development of Advanced Semiconductors
“It’s worth remembering that the PLA has effectively wrecked any kind of hotlines or discussion forums for addressing potential incidents with the United States. If an intercept does go wrong, there are fewer options than ever for senior officers to limit potential escalation,” he said.
“The US’s provocative and dangerous moves are the root cause of maritime security issues. The Foreign Ministry called on the US to stop provocations and stop blaming China.
The Chinese Southern Theater Command said the US reconnaissance jet was flying “in the vicinity of China’s southern coastline and the Xisha Islands” – known in the West as the Paracels – where Beijing has built up military installations.
After a string of incidents last year involving intercepts of US and allied aircraft by Chinese warplanes, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the PLA’s actions were escalating and “should worry us all.”
Jake Sullivan believes that a military conflict between the United States and China over Taiwan can be avoided.
There is a risk of conflict, but I think we can prevent it with responsible stewardship. And that is our responsibility,” he told Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep in an exclusive interview.
“The U.S. must take seriously China’s legitimate concerns, stop containing and suppressing China’s development, and particularly stop using salami tactics to constantly challenge China’s red line,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Sullivan’s comments about Taiwan are a part of an interview about national security, which also focused onUkraine and the Middle East.
I don’t want to get into hypotheticals about what a particular military contingency would look like. This is what I will say. Taiwan produced more than 90% of the most advanced semiconductors when we were in office. The remaining percentage were produced in [Republic of Korea]. In the United States, there was zero percent produced.
We still need to import chips from Taiwan and ROK, but we are going to need to build those manufacturing facilities here in America again to become a leader in that field. You can’t do that overnight. But we believe we are on a pathway to do that. And that month by month, the U.S. supply chain is becoming more secure.
I believe that the meeting between the two presidents in Bali did in fact place a floor under the relationship. It gave a direction and stability to teams in Beijing and Washington that were interested in dealing with issues that are important to us. For example, there is no reason that the United States and China, as the world’s two largest emitters of carbon, that we cannot find a way to work together to reduce overall carbon emissions in the world and contribute to solving the climate crisis.
There is no reason why China and the United States can’t work together to stop the flow of precursors chemicals that end up in the drug Fentanyl that is killing thousands of Americans.
We are not going to be shy about the differences that we have with the PRC, whether it is speaking out on human rights, or it is pushing back against provocative actions around Taiwan.
The U.S. Mission to the Middle East: A Brief Review of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Future of the Two State Solution
Semiconductors, as many people have now learned, actually just since the COVID-19 pandemic, are fundamental to the powering of our economy across the board, whether it’s our cars or our appliances or any of our high tech products, our iPhones, computers and so forth. Semiconductors are also central to military power. Semiconductor is used in the guidance systems for advanced missiles and in the nuclear submarine.
The essential thrust of American policy is […] to provide Ukraine the means to put themselves in the best possible position on the battlefield, to make the most gains possible. They are in the best position possible at the negotiating table if they choose to, that’s up to them. Predicting exactly what the war will be, how it will unfold over time, and leaving that to others is what I will do.
The first thing that I intend to convey is the fact that […] the United States is absolutely committed to Israel’s security, and that’s not going to change. President Biden has been a fundamental and stalwart supporter of the state of Israel for as long as he’s been in public service. Second, we’re going to talk through the challenges and opportunities in the Middle East region. There are significant challenges, including the threat posed by Iran. On the other hand, there are real opportunities, including what we’ve seen in the deepening normalization between Israel and some of the Arab states.
We continue to support the two state solution, and we will oppose policies and practices that undermine the viability of the two state solution or that cut hard against the historic status quo in Jerusalem. I will direct those points clearly and concisely.
A CNN Intelligence Perspective on a U.S. Naval Base in Subic Bay, South Carolina and the Indignation of George W. Bush
Beth Sanner oversaw the elements that coordinate and lead collection, analysis, and program oversight throughout the Intelligence Community when she was the deputy director of National Intelligence for Mission Integration. She was also the president’s intelligence briefer. She is a professor-of-practice at the Applied Research Lab for Intelligence and Security at the University of Maryland and a CNN national security analyst. The opinions that she gives are her own. View more opinion on CNN.
China accused the United States of violating international practices after US military jets shot down its suspected spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina. After it loitered over the US for more than four days, it was moved to another location. My reaction to the indignation? Oh, dear, Poppycock!
In late 2016, the Chinese seized an unmanned US Navy underwater vehicle in international waters in the South China Sea, just 50 nautical miles from Subic Bay in the Philippines, and hundreds of miles from China. The world’s largest US naval base was located in Subic Bay until disagreements about leasing costs led to a withdrawal in 1992. The incident was widely believed to have been a message to President-elect Donald Trump, just two weeks before his inauguration and several weeks after he angered Beijing by taking a congratulatory call from Taiwan’s president. Beijing agreed to return the craft three days later, but never apologized and accused the US of spying.
The most memorable example was that of George W. Bush. On April 1, 2001, two Chinese fighter jets harassed a US Navy EP-3 surveillance plane over international waters near China. One collided with the EP-3 and crashed. The plane was heavily damaged when the pilot made an unauthorized emergency landing on China’s Hainan Island. The 24 US crew members were held for 11 days, and some were repeatedly interrogated before US officials negotiated their release.
President Jiang Zemin of the People’s Republic of China blamed the collision on the US. The two sides had not agreed upon the return of the plane until nearly two months later. Having removed and refused to return the plane’s hardware, software and communications equipment, the Chinese insisted the EP-3 be dismantled and transported by a third party at the US’s expense. Beijing also tried to charge the Bush Administration $1 million for costs associated with the incident, including expenses for detaining the plane’s crew. Washington countered with an offer of some $34,000 it said was a “fair figure” — money China refused — and never apologized.
My first reaction to the Chinese balloon when it was identified floating over Montana was probably the same as yours: “Shoot it down, already!” My role as an intelligence official in the past was to not highlight the intelligence community’s knowledge but focus on the facts and give a measured, clear headed assessment. In meetings in the White House Situation Room over the last week, a senior intelligence official would have joined the US military to set the discussion in motion. So I’m inclined to buy the risk-benefit calculus that drove the decision to wait to shoot the balloon down until it was flying over shallow US waters where the risk posed by a large debris field was minimal.
Instead, let’s come up with a more strategic, measured plan to hold China accountable, but also allow room for needed dialogue. If we follow Beijing’s lead it will surely be a race to the bottom, making it harder to avoid what we all wish to avoid — military conflict with China.
The first time the Chinese coast guard blocked a marine patrol vessel in the disputed waters: a violation of the U.S. intelligence community’s sovereignty obligation to protect its citizens
Although the Chinese coast guard had tried to block Philippine coast guard ships in the disputed waters before, this was the first time it used lasers and caused physical suffering among Filipino personnel, Philippine coast guard spokesperson Commodore Armand Balilo told The Associated Press.
The Chinese ship also maneuvered dangerously close, about 137 meters (449 feet), to block the Philippine patrol vessel BRP Malapascua from approaching Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef that has been occupied by Philippine forces, on Feb. 6, the Philippine coast guard said in a statement.
The Chinese ship caused momentary blindness to her crew by shining the green laser light twice towards the BRP Malapascua.
The Philippine vessel was forced to move away from the area, where it was escorting a supply vessel that was delivering food and sailors to a Philippine navy sentry ship, the BRP Sierra Madre, which has been marooned on Second Thomas Shoal since 1999, the coast guard said.
In the latest incident, one of the two Chinese ships that were joined by two Chinese civilian vessels removed the cover of its 70mm armament, the coast guard said, adding it would not be deterred by China’s aggression in protecting Philippine sovereignty in the disputed sea.
Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims in the resource-rich and busy waterway, where a bulk of the world’s commerce and oil transits.
The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps held joint exercises in the South China Sea over the weekend at a time of heightened tensions with Beijing over the shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon. The U.S. has been taking steps to rebuild its military might in the Philippines more than 30 years after the closure of its large bases in the country and reinforcing an arc of military alliances in Asia.
China is using an increasingly hardline stance to play to its domestic audience, but it has also exposed the inherent contradictions in Beijing’s messages, which have serious damaging effects on its credibility.
The claim was swiftly denied by the White house, which described the allegation as the latest example of China scrambling to do damage control.
“It appears more like Beijing is trying to also portray itself as a victim of US surveillance, instead of being painted over the past week as an aggressor,” he said.
Drew Thompson, a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, called China’s latest tactic “a large case of what-aboutism.”
It has been quite different. It lacks credibility with other countries because it is mainly directed towards the domestic audience.
Airspace sovereignty of the South China Sea is not a sovereign property of the US, its territorial waters, or its sovereignty over the Spratlys
The US and Philippines will participate in joint military exercises in 2022, where the US has trained with balloons.
It does not justify China’s intrusion in other countries’ airspace. The Law of the Sea and international law are both equally important in how countries conduct intelligence gathering.
China did not provide any details of the alleged incursions of US balloons into its airspace – when and where they occurred, or whether it responded in any way at the time.
A country’s sovereign airspace is the portion of the atmosphere that sits above its territory, including its territorial waters that extend 12 nautical miles from its land. Above the ocean beyond the 12 nautical mile limit is considered international airspace, where commercial and military aircraft – including balloons – are allowed to engage in overflight without seeking permission, said Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at Australian National University.
But Koh, the military expert in Singapore, said Beijing doesn’t necessarily draw distinction between national airspace and international airspace in practice.
“In recent years, the Chinese military has also been challenging foreign military aerial activities over the Spratlys, including those run by the Filipinos when they flew close to the Chinese-occupied outposts,” he said.
At least seven artificial islands were built by China in the South China Sea. But according to international law, an artificial island does not give any airspace sovereignty, Rothwell said.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/china/china-accusation-us-balloons-analysis-mic-intl-hnk/index.html
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry announces that a Chinese weather balloon was found on an outlying island (Taiwan’s media reported that it had gone over 30,000 meters)
It extends to the maximum height at which military and commercial aircraft operate. Concorde, a retired Franco British supersonic airliner, was able to fly 60,000 feet, setting a precedent for high national airspace.
The Taiwan Defense Ministry said that there is a Chinese weather balloon that has landed on one of its outlying islands.
The ministry’s statement on Thursday said the balloon carried equipment registered to a state-owned electronics company in the northern city of Taiyuan.
A publicity officer for the company that was reported in the report said it didn’t build the balloon, but did provide electronics.
There were a number of companies who provided equipment to the China Meteorological Administration according to the spokesman.
He said that the balloon was likely to be among those launched daily to monitor weather and was set off without a fixed course.
Its deflation was likely a natural outcome of it having reached maximum altitude of around 30,000 meters (almost 100,000 feet), Liu said. Such balloons regularly fly over the Taiwan Strait but have only recently begun to draw attention, he said.
Information on the equipment was written in the simplified Chinese characters used on the mainland rather than the traditional on Taiwan, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/17/1157771528/taiwan-reports-that-a-chinese-weather-balloon-was-found-on-an-outlying-island
The Paracel Islands: How the US Navy spotted a PLA Navy gamma-ray destroyer on Da Nang and the Xisha Islands
Washington is Taiwan’s closest military and diplomatic ally despite a lack of formal ties. Beijing protests strongly over all contacts between the island and the U.S., but its aggressive diplomacy has helped build strong bipartisan support for Taipei on Capitol Hill.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden said the U.S. is developing “sharper rules” to track, monitor and potentially shoot down unknown aerial objects, following three weeks of high-stakes drama sparked by the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon transiting much of the country.
Biden has directed national security adviser Jake Sullivan to lead an “interagency team” to review U.S. procedures after the U.S. shot down the Chinese balloon, as well as three other objects that Biden said the U.S. now believes were most likely “benign” objects launched by private companies or research institutions.
A CNN crew is listening in on a radio as a voice from thePLA crackles over, and they are using rare access aboard the US flight.
The strategic waterway holds a large amount of fish, oil and gas and it is worth approximately 34% of the global shipping in 2016, according to the China Power Project.
The Paracel Islands, called the Xisha Islands by China, are in the northern part of the South China Sea, east of Da Nang, Vietnam, and south of China’s Hainan Island.
There is no indigenous population to speak of, only 1,400 people in Chinese military garrisons, according to the CIA Factbook.
In 2016, in a case brought by the Philippines, an international tribunal in the Hague ruled that China’s claim to historic rights to the bulk of the sea had no legal basis.
The US Navy spotted a PLA Navy guided-missile destroyer in the skies over the Philippines and then descended to around 1,000 feet to take a closer look.
The US aircraft. US aircraft. This is Chinese naval warship 173. You are approaching to me at low altitude. State your intention over,” a voice comes over the US plane’s radio.
The US Navy said the US cruiser conducted the operation in accordance with international law and continued on to conduct normal operations in waters where high seas freedoms apply.
The US Navy is preparing to fight a war in the South China Sea, as suggested by a spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army
It leaves questions whenever there is no response. Do they know what was being said? Do they understand our intentions? Do they understand that we don’t mean any harm? He said so.
A US Navy reconnaissance jet flew over the Taiwan Strait on Monday, in a maneuver intended to assert the right to operate in international airspace despite strong objections from the Chinese military.
But a spokesman for China’s Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Army Senior Col. Shi Yi, accused Washington of hyping the flight and inflaming tensions.
The US flight has wreaked havoc on the Taiwan Strait, according to a report on the PLA’s English language website.
The US 7th Fleet statement said the US would continue to “fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows including within the Taiwan Strait.”
On Friday, a US Poseidon with a CNN crew aboard was intercepted by a PLA fighter jet over the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands, a chain of contested coral atolls where Beijing has built military installations despite competing claims from Vietnam and Taiwan.
The general in charge of the US Army in the Pacific said Monday the PLA is on a historical path as it continues to build its forces.
“They are rehearsing, they are practicing, they are experimenting, and they are preparing those forces for something,” Flynn said. You don’t build an arsenal to defend and protect. You are probably building that for other purposes.”
At the same event, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said that while she does not believe a PLA amphibious invasion of Taiwan is imminent, “we have to obviously prepare … to fight and win that war.”
The best way to avoid fighting that war is to show the people of China that we can win it, she said.