#southchinasea
China Contemplates Confrontation
This sort of blustery rhetoric tends to be dismissed by #Americans in the aftermath of the #wars against #Arabs in the #MiddleEast, but it shouldn’t be when it comes from #China in response to various diplomatic #provocations by the #US State Department using #European #proxies.
Diplomatic measures alone are obviously not enough. If the US and the #Taiwan island change the names, they are suspected of touching the red line of China’s Anti-Secession Law, and the Chinese mainland will have to take severe #economic and #military #measures to combat the #arrogance of the US and the island of Taiwan. At that time, the mainland should impose severe economic sanctions on the island and even carry out an economic #blockade on the island, depending on the circumstances.
Militarily, Chinese mainland’s fighter #jets should fly over the island of Taiwan and place the island’s #airspace into the patrol area of the #PLA. This is a step that the #mainland must take sooner or later. The name change provides the Chinese mainland with sufficient reason to strengthen our #sovereign #claim over the island of Taiwan. It is anticipated that the Taiwan army will not dare to stop the PLA fighter jets from flying over the island. If the Taiwan side dares open fire, the Chinese mainland will not hesitate to give “Taiwan independence” forces a #decisive and #destructive blow….
Will #peace come if the Chinese mainland puts up with all this and swallows its anger for the sake of peace? If the mainland doesn’t strike back decisively, US #warships will dock at the island of Taiwan, its fighter #aircraft will land on the island and its #troops may be stationed in the island again. At that time, where will be China’s #prestige as a #great #power? How can the country maintain its system of defending its #interests on the international stage?
The fact is that a #contest of #will has been formed regarding the Taiwan question. Since China has declared that the Taiwan question is a matter of our #core interests, we must take resolute actions to protect the bottom line of this exact national interest at any cost. If the #DemocraticProgressParty authority really dares to take the risk of triggering a war to push for a name change, and the US, which just suffered a #debacle in #Afghanistan, is not afraid of being involved in a new war, then what is there for the mainland to be scared of?
It seems that sooner or later, the #TaiwanStraits will be plunged into a #storm that will change the situation there drastically. And judging from the current actions of the US and the island of Taiwan, we can be sure that even if they will have to take this step back, they will step forth again soon. Thus, right now we need to be fully prepared to blow them out of the water in the Taiwan Straits.
Global Times, 12 September 2021
There is a rational argument for the US #military provoking a #confrontation with China sooner rather than later, as the technological and production trends are clearly working in China’s favor. The Chinese are fully aware of these trends, which is why they have resolutely avoided military confrontation with the USA for decades. And that’s why it is so significant that at least some parties in China believe, and are willing to publicly declare, that the right time for resolving “the Taiwan question” is right now.
#UPDATE: The provocations aren’t only diplomatic.
US Guided-missile destroyer #USS #Benfold trespassed in waters near the #Meiji-Reef in the #SouthChinaSea Wednesday without permission from China. The Chinese side mobilized aircraft and ships to warn off and expel the ship from the waters. In a 7th Fleet news release, the US side acknowledged that USS Benfold sailed within 12 nautical miles of Meiji Reef. But it said the warship was asserting navigational rights and freedoms. It claimed the Meiji reef “is not entitled to a territorial sea under international law,” and “the land reclamation efforts, installations, and structures” built on the reef “do not change this characterization under international law.”
China and the US don’t agree on the nature of the 12 nautical miles of Meiji Reef. Other different views exist worldwide. But international law doesn’t empower any country to challenge others’ sovereign claim with an intrusion by a warship. The US in particular has no right to do so given the fact that it has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Global Times, 13 September 2021
