World War III Warning Thread - Weeks of 1/9/19- 1/21/19

[lonewolfinoregon]

Taiwan holds military drills to halt invasion amid rising China tensions Beijing (CNN)Taiwan's military held large-scale drills on its west coast Thursday amid growing tensions between the self-governed island and an increasingly belligerent Beijing.

Aimed at thwarting an amphibious invasion, Taiwan's armed forces dispatched tanks, rocket launchers and combat helicopters to beaches near Taichung for the island's first live-fire drills of the year.
"Our military stands ready to counter any threats ... including those from Communist China," Maj. Gen. Chen Chung-chi, a spokesman for Taiwan's defense ministry, told CNN.
"These drills are based on the principle of 'conduct training wherever wars might break out,'" he added. "We are prepared to maintain our territory and freedom."
Both air and land forces took part in the drills, which are regularly held in Taiwan.
Both air and land forces took part in the drills, which are regularly held in Taiwan.
Chen declined to comment on the size of the troops or the types of weaponry involved. The first phase of the drills will continue until the end of the January.
Although Taiwan holds exercises regularly, the latest war games sharpened their focus on combat readiness as Chinese President Xi Jinping heightens pressure on the self-ruled and democratic island of 23 million people.
"Reunification is the historical trend and the right path, Taiwan independence is ... a dead end," Xi said in a January speech.
Echoing Xi, a top Chinese general on Tuesday told the visiting US chief of naval operations that "if someone tries to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will do whatever it takes to safeguard national reunification, national sovereignty and territorial integrity."
The Chinese government has been regularly holding drills around Taiwan as Chinese President Xi ramps up pressure on the island.
The Chinese government has been regularly holding drills around Taiwan as Chinese President Xi ramps up pressure on the island.
A US government report published the same day said the Chinese government has made a series of ambitious military reforms and acquired new technology over the past few years, to improve its military's ability to fight regional conflicts over places like Taiwan.

China and Taiwan split in 1949 following the Communist victory on the mainland in a bloody civil war. Despite being governed separately for seven decades, Beijing still considers the island part of its territory and routinely threatens the use of force to take it back.
The US maintains formal diplomatic relations only with Beijing, but Taiwan remains an important American ally in the region. Under President Donald Trump, close unofficial ties between the US and Taiwan have grown even stronger.
In the face of Beijing's disapproval, Washington continues to sell advanced weapons to the island under the Taiwan Relations Act for its self-defense against a much bigger Chinese military.
More recently, the Trump administration angered Beijing by authorizing US manufacturers to sell submarine technology to Taiwan, as well as enacting the Taiwan Travel Act to encourage official visits between the US and the island. https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/17/asia/...ntl/index.html

If war erupts it will be the shortest attempt at stopping an invasion..

[danielboon]

U.S. Navy chief does not rule out sending aircraft carrier through Taiwan Strait TOKYO (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy has not ruled out sending an aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait, despite military technology advances by China that pose a greater threat to U.S. warships than ever before, the chief of U.S. naval operations said on Friday.Washington sent ships through the strategic waterway three times last year as it makes more frequent transits of the strait that separates Taiwan from the Chinese mainland, but it has not dispatched a carrier in more than 10 years.

During that time, China has modernized its forces with missiles designed to strike enemy ships.

“We don’t really see any kind of limitation on whatever type of ship could pass through those waters,” Admiral John Richardson told reporters in the Japanese capital, when asked if more advanced Chinese weapons posed too big a risk.

“We see the Taiwan Strait as another (stretch of) international waters, so that’s why we do the transits.”

Aircraft carriers, typically equipped with about 80 aircraft and crews of about 5,000, are key to the U.S. military’s ability to project power globally.

On Tuesday, a U.S. official told Reuters the United States was closely watching Chinese intentions toward Taiwan as advances in military technology give Beijing’s forces greater capability to occupy an island it considers a breakaway province.

In a report, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency called Taiwan the “primary driver” for China’s military modernization.

Richardson, who visited China before travelling to Japan, said he told his Chinese counterparts the United States was opposed to any unilateral action by Beijing or Taipei.

He also urged China to stick to international rules during unplanned naval encounters at sea.

That request came after a Chinese destroyer approached the USS Decatur in October and forced it to change course as it challenged Chinese territorial claims in the contested South China Sea with a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP).

“We have made this very clear that this was an excursion, a departure from the normal adherence to those rules and we would hope that behaviour in the future would be much more consistent,” Richardson said.

“We should not see each other as a threatening presence in these waters.”

North Korean envoy arrives in U.S. for talks
The U.S. Navy continues to pass through waters in the South China Sea that Beijing considers its territory.

On Jan 7, a U.S. guided-missile destroyer sailed within 12 miles of a Chinese-occupied island, prompting Beijing’s rebuke that it had “gravely infringed upon China’s sovereignty”.

China, which claims almost all of the strategic waterway, says its intentions are peaceful. Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have competing claims.https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-us...-idUKKCN1PC069