“As Putin wages war in Ukraine and Israel fights a multi-front war against Iran-backed proxies like Hamas, Chairman Xi is watching to see if America continues to support its partners and friends,” says Congressman Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee as he led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Taiwan.
“Taiwan is a thriving democracy. The U.S. will continue to stand by our steadfast partner and work to maintain the status quo across the Taiwan Strait. I look forward to meeting with Taiwan officials to better understand what America can do to preserve peace in Asia and build upon our shared democratic values.”
CNN reports (May 26, 2024):
The arrival of six lawmakers come just days after the inauguration of Lai Ching-te, who has been rebuked as a “dangerous separatist” by Beijing and whose election triggered the largest military exercises around Taiwan that the Chinese have launched in more than a year. China’s ruling Communist Party says the self-ruling democracy is part of its territory, despite never having controlled it, and has vowed to take the island by force if necessary….
The delegation will discuss with Taiwanese authorities “regional security, trade and investment to explore new areas of collaboration,” according to a news release from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Beijing said the two days of Chinese joint military exercises around Taiwan and in the Taiwan Strait were initiated to “test the ability to jointly seize power, launch joint attacks and occupy key areas.” The drills involved dozens of fighter jets carrying live ammunition conducting mock strikes against “high value military targets” of the “enemy,” CNN reported Thursday.
Status quo?
Persons favoring U.S. support for the Republic of China can agree with much of McCaul’s statement.
Though a standard formulation, the part about working to maintain the status quo in the Strait is curious. The status quo in the Strait is continuous almost-war in apparent preparation for actual war. Perhaps what the congressman means by maintaining the status quo in the Taiwan Strait is preventing an invasion by the People’s Republic of China of the Republic of China.
Also, in noting Iran’s support for Hamas McCaul might also have mentioned the PRC’s support for Iran and Hamas. These guys are all on the same team.
President Lai Ching-te was inaugurated on May 20, 2024. In his inaugural address, Lai urged China to stop its military intimidation and stressed that the Republic of China is “a sovereign independent nation in which sovereignty lies in the hands of the people…. I hope that China will face the reality of the Republic of China’s existence, respect the choices of the people of Taiwan, and in good faith, choose dialogue over confrontation….”
“As soon as the leader of Taiwan took office, he challenged the one-China principle and blatantly sold the two-state theory,” moaned Chen Binhua, a propagandist for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office. How else, in China’s view, could China respond to such an articulation of the obvious except by stepped-up browbeating of its next-door neighbor?
Neverending for now
After China’s special we’re-really-really-mad military exercises to commemorate Lai’s ascendancy, scads of China’s military ships and planes continued to make the usual threatening gestures in the Strait and require the ROC military to monitor and be on alert.
Specialists say that the neverending military drills are more than a form of anger mismanagement therapy. According to Drew Thompson, a researcher with Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, the drills “are part of the PLA’s long-term, strategic preparations to fight and win a war over Taiwan.” The Chinese government is doing what it says it is doing.
Carl Schuster, formerly a director at the U.S. Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, says a major purpose is to help wear out Taiwan’s older military equipment. “Taiwan’s F-16s are over 20 years old and every flight hour tasked to those air frames draws the fuselage and equipment ever closer to refurbishment, which takes them out of service for one to four months. It also stresses the force overall, keeping them on edge.”
Also see:
StopTheChinazis.org: “China Is Stoking a New Cold War With the West”
“Pick any terrorist group, rogue regime, or horrific conflict in the world today and you’ll likely find that China is behind it.”
