Breaking News China-US War?

[xizhimen]

Taiwan's public are always divided between pro independence and pro unification, but how many pro independence people are really ready to fight for it in Taiwan? Check what this Taiwan girl has to say about it.
Q: If the mainland crossed the strait and attacked Taiwan, what would you do?
A: I'll shout I m all for reunification, long live motherland China. But before they come, I will say we want darn independence.

 

[Bogeyman]

Taiwan's public are always divided between pro independence and pro unification, but how many pro independence people are really ready to fight for it in Taiwan? Check what this Taiwan girl has to say about it.
Q: If the mainland crossed the strait and attacked Taiwan, what would you do?
A: I'll shout I m all for reunification, long live motherland China. But before they come, I will say we want darn independence.

These people have not seen the suffering of destruction. They do not yet understand the seriousness of the matter.

 

[xizhimen]

Many mainland Chinese believe that Taiwanese are fragile islanders with very poor physique, mostly from southern China, physically and mentally both weak, guys talk like girls and girls talk like babies, most guys are not even up to a simple task of killing a chicken. Even we are all Chinese, but Taiwan athletes perform extremely poorly in the OLympic Games due to those inherent weak traits.

 

[Bogeyman]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1555890953239527425

China continues to fire ballistic missiles on Taiwan.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1555494585614434305

China has announced that it is severing all diplomatic ties with the United States.

 

[Bogeyman]

Taiwan facing fighter pilot shortage​

Taiwan is facing a fighter pilot shortage, a Bloomberg report said on Saturday (Aug. 6).

Though the nation is due to gradually receive 66 new F-16Vs in the coming years, there will not be enough pilots to fly them, the report said. The nation may require as many as 50 years to train enough pilots to keep its F-16 fleet flying.

Bloomberg cited American military commanders as saying Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) could be able to attack Taiwan in five years. They also noted that the daily air defense identification zone (ADIZ) intrusions are taking a toll on Taiwanese pilots and their aircraft.

Chinese aircraft made approximately 960 incursions into Taiwan’s ADIZ last year; a huge increase compared to the 380 in 2020, according to Taiwan’s defense ministry.

Taiwan will need to recruit and train 100 more pilots by 2026 to fly the 66 F-16Vs, according to the Bloomberg report. The Air Force was only able to recruit 21 new F-16 pilots from 2011 to 2019, according to data compiled by the Taiwan People’s Party.

The Taiwan Air Force mandates 250 hours of flight training before a pilot can be approved to fly a fighter jet, per Bloomberg.

Some major challenges Taiwan faces in attracting recruits are the declining birth rate and several deadly crashes, Bloomberg said. It also noted that nearly 80% of university students in Taiwan have myopia.

However, Ukraine’s success in preventing Russia from gaining air superiority has boosted recruitment, Bloomberg cited Taiwanese authorities as saying. More than half of the trainees at Taitung’s Chihang Air Base are now being sent to its F-16 wing, compared with one-third just a few years ago as part of Taiwan’s response to China’s increased military activity, according to Matt Shen, an instructor at the base.

The Air Force said it is “actively increasing recruits, raising the distribution ratio of pilots to F-16 fleet and enhancing staff’s willingness to stay, and these measures are able to satisfy demands for future pilots.”

Additionally, flight schools have lowered the academic threshold to allow more candidates who already meet physical fitness and vision requirements. The Air Force has also eased rules requiring 20-20 vision and now offers corrective eye surgery to some recruits.

Taiwan facing fighter pilot shortage | Taiwan News | 2022-08-06 20:30:00

Taiwan may need 50 years to train enough pilots to fly its F-16 fleet | 2022-08-06 20:30:00

www.taiwannews.com.tw

 

[Bogeyman]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1555907614474924034

 

[Bogeyman]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1555821602431873024

 

[Gary]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1555419258364252160

 

[xizhimen]

China drills 'reveal plans for blockade'​

Experts say biggest-ever military exercise off Taiwan shows China's full capabilities
PUBLISHED : 6 AUG 2022 AT 13:39

Beijing’s largest-ever exercises around Taiwan have offered key clues into its plans for a gruelling blockade in the event of a war to take the self-ruled island, and revealed an increasingly emboldened Chinese military, experts told AFP.

The visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — second in line to the presidency — sparked outrage from Beijing, which launched vast military manoeuvres around the island, even at the risk of partially exposing its plans to the United States and its Asian allies.

Mobilising fighter planes, helicopters and even warships, the drills aim to simulate a blockade of Taiwan and include practising an “attack on targets at sea”, according to state news agency Xinhua.

It is the first time Chinese exercises have taken place so close to Taiwan, with some of the drills happening less than 20 kilometres from the island’s coast.

Also unprecedented are Beijing’s drills on Taiwan’s eastern flank, a strategically vital area for supplies to the island’s military forces — as well as any potential American reinforcements.

China sees Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to one day take it, by force if necessary.

A “blockade scenario” was long speculated to be one of China’s preferred strategies were it to try and conquer the island, and this week’s drills have revealed how that might go down.

Such a besiegement would aim to prevent any entry or exit of commercial or military ships and aircraft.

But it would also deny American forces stationed in the region access to the island.

The Chinese military “obviously has all the capabilities to impose such a blockade”, Song Zhongping, an independent Chinese military commentator, told AFP.

“We already see during the current exercises that Taiwanese fighter jets and ships absolutely cannot take off or leave their ports.”

‘They can’t be dismissed’

The Chinese military fired a dozen ballistic missiles on Thursday that hit various areas around Taiwan — with some flying over the island, the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said on Friday.

According to Xinhua, Beijing has mobilised more than 100 planes and more than 10 frigates and destroyers — including the J-20 stealth fighter and a Type 055 destroyer, the crown jewels of China’s air and naval forces.

But beyond the big guns, the exercises make it possible to test and sharpen the level of coordination between the various army corps mobilised: land, sea, air and rocket forces, as well as strategic support, tasked with cyber warfare.

It is also a crucial test for the recently inaugurated Eastern Theatre of Operations of the Chinese army, created in 2016 and which oversees the country’s entire eastern maritime space — and therefore Taiwan.

What China has done so far demonstrates its “robust capabilities”, John Blaxland, professor of international security at the Australian National University, told AFP.

“They can’t be dismissed as some kind of less inexperienced, incapable force,” he said.

“They clearly have the ability to coordinate their land and sea, they have the ability to deploy missile systems and they function effectively.”

These exercises also demonstrate to the Taiwanese, the Americans and the Japanese that the Chinese “have what it takes to do what they threaten to do”, he added.

“The converse, of course to this is that what they are doing is being closely studied and monitored for lessons to be learned by Taiwan, the United States, Japan and others,” Blaxland noted.

‘Dangerous opponent’

During the previous Taiwan Strait crisis from 1995 to 1996, when Bill Clinton was the US president, the US Navy transited several warships through the waterway and deployed aircraft carriers near the island.

This time, however, “the US government is taking prudent steps to avoid unwanted escalation”, said Lonnie Henley, a former US intelligence officer and professor at the Elliott School of International Studies in Washington.

American caution is also rooted in the fact that China has greatly increased its military capabilities since 1996, when it was unable to deny the US Navy access to the area.

“In some areas the PLA might even surpass US capabilities,” noted Grant Newsham, a former US Navy officer and researcher at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies, referring to China’s military by its official name.

“If the battle is confined to the area right around Taiwan, today’s Chinese navy is a dangerous opponent — and if the Americans and Japanese do not intervene for some reason, things would be difficult for Taiwan.”

Chinese incursions across the so-called median line between the mainland and Taiwan — never recognised by Beijing — also speak to a growing confidence, experts said.

“China has not felt comfortable to push its claims on the median line until recently,” said Blaxland.

“We can expect them to continue to operate as if the median line is not valid. That’s been the case for a while, but it’s now accelerating.”

China drills "reveal plans for blockade"

Beijing’s largest-ever exercises around Taiwan have offered key clues into its plans for a gruelling blockade in the event of a war to take the self-ruled island, and revealed an increasingly emboldened Chinese military, experts told AFP.

www.bangkokpost.com

 

[xizhimen]

What China has done so far demonstrates its “robust capabilities”, John Blaxland, professor of international security at the Australian National University, told AFP.

“They clearly have the ability to coordinate their land and sea, they have the ability to deploy missile systems and they function effectively.”

During the previous Taiwan Strait crisis from 1995 to 1996, when Bill Clinton was the US president, the US Navy transited several warships through the waterway and deployed aircraft carriers near the island.

This time, however, “the US government is taking prudent steps to avoid unwanted escalation”, said Lonnie Henley, a former US intelligence officer and professor at the Elliott School of International Studies in Washington.

American caution is also rooted in the fact that China has greatly increased its military capabilities since 1996, when it was unable to deny the US Navy access to the area.

“In some areas the PLA might even surpass US capabilities,” noted Grant Newsham, a former US Navy officer and researcher at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies, referring to China’s military by its official name.

“If the battle is confined to the area right around Taiwan, today’s Chinese navy is a dangerous opponent — and if the Americans and Japanese do not intervene for some reason, things would be difficult for Taiwan.”

Chinese incursions across the so-called median line between the mainland and Taiwan — never recognised by Beijing — also speak to a growing confidence, experts said.

“China has not felt comfortable to push its claims on the median line until recently,” said Blaxland.

“We can expect them to continue to operate as if the median line is not valid. That’s been the case for a while, but it’s now accelerating.”

US navy this time learned to stay out of China's path, the status quo had been changed forever this time. Many Taiwanese lament: just after one night when we woke up in the morning, our " territorial waters and skies" ceased to exist.

 

[Gary]

AIM-120C
AIM-9M
RGM-84L
AN/ALQ-184

 

[Gary]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1555795857400025091

 

[xizhimen]

Breaking: Taiwan says multiple Chinese aircraft and vessels spotted in possible simulated attack​

By Jessie Yeung and Eric Cheung, CNN

Updated 10:00 AM ET, Sat August 6, 2022

Hong Kong (CNN)Taiwan says it detected "multiple" Chinese aircraft and naval vessels taking part in military drills around the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, in what could be a possible simulated attack against the island.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry said some of the aircraft and vessels had crossed the sensitive median line in the Taiwan Strait that separates the island from the Chinese mainland.

"Our military has broadcast warnings, deployed combat air patrol and naval vessels and activated land-based missile systems in response to the situation," said the ministry.

By 5 p.m. in Taiwan, 14 vessels and 20 planes operated by the Chinese military had been detected around the Strait, according to a statement from the ministry. Of the 20 aircraft, 14 crossed the median line, it added.


The Chinese military has not yet issued a statement on the purpose of Saturday's exercises.

The news follows a series of military drills that China has carried out around Taiwan since Thursday after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's controversial visit to the self-governing democratic island earlier this week.

The Chinese Communist Party views Taiwan as its territory, despite never having controlled it, and has long vowed to "reunify" the island with the Chinese mainland -- by force if necessary.

Pelosi ignored its furious opposition to her visit by landing in Taipei on Tuesday evening as part of a larger Asia tour that wrapped up Friday with a last stop in Japan.
But the full ramifications of her visit are only now emerging, with China ramping up military exercises in the skies and waters around Taiwan and halting cooperation with the US on various issues.

On Friday, 68 Chinese warplanes were reported in the Taiwan Strait, according to Taiwan's Defense Ministry. Of those, 49 entered Taiwan's air defense identification zone -- a buffer of airspace commonly referred to as an ADIZ. That was just a few planes short of the record set last year when 56 Chinese warplanes entered the ADIZ on the same day.

Nineteen of the warplanes on Friday also crossed the median line dividing the Taiwan Strait, the ministry said.

On Thursday, China launched 11 ballistic missiles -- some of which flew over the island of Taiwan and landed in Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone, prompting Tokyo to lodge a formal complaint with Beijing. That was the first time China had sent missiles over the island.

Also on Thursday, two Chinese drones flew near Japan's Okinawa prefecture, prompting Japan's Air Self-Defense Force to scramble fighter jets in response.
The drills are scheduled to last until Sunday local time in Beijing, according to Chinese state media.

​

Taiwan says multiple Chinese aircraft and vessels spotted in possible simulated attack | CNN

Taiwan says it detected "multiple" Chinese aircraft and naval vessels taking part in military drills around the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, in what could be a possible simulated attack against the island.

www.cnn.com

 

[xizhimen]

Taiwan tensions reveal challenges for U.S. navy as Chinese threat grows​

Reuters/REUTERS
U.S. military officials repeatedly talk of "routine" patrols to support a "free and open Indo-Pacific" but the realities are increasingly challenging amid the worst Taiwan tensions since 1996, according to diplomats, military attaches and security analysts

August 6, 2022

HONG KONG - The long route of Nancy Pelosi's Tuesday flight over Borneo to Taipei and a U.S. aircraft carrier's complex passage through the South China Sea highlight the difficulties U.S. forces now face against a Chinese military keen to flex its muscles over Taiwan.

U.S. military officials repeatedly talk of "routine" patrols to support a "free and open Indo-Pacific" but the realities are increasingly challenging amid the worst Taiwan tensions since 1996, according to diplomats, military attaches and security analysts.

U.S. officials told Reuters this week they did not want to escalate matters with unnecessarily provocative deployments before House Speaker Pelosi - a staunch China critic and the third most senior U.S. politician - landed in Taipei on Tuesday on a U.S. Air Force plane.

And they are keeping to that approach as the Chinese military launches live firing exercises in waters surrounding, and in some bisecting, Taiwan's territory, they say.
"We can't control Pelosi's travel, but we can control how we react," one defence official said.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii did not immediately respond to Reuters' questions regarding its actions and strategies.

The plane carrying Pelosi and her congressional delegation skirted the South China Sea - and its fortified islands - as it flew from Singapore on Tuesday, taking a longer route over the island of Borneo and eastern side of the Philippines.

"The natural flight path would be over the South China Sea but the place is now bristling with radars, sensors and jamming equipment on China's island bases, so it is something to avoid in the Pelosi context," said Singapore-based security consultant Alexander Neill.

"The way things are unfolding we can see the goal here is to avoid unmanaged escalations."

After building up installations in the disputed Paracel and Spratlys archipelagos, Chinese coast guard vessels, warships and aircraft routinely patrol deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia, frequently shadowing U.S. and other navies.

China's military modernisation in recent decades mean some security analysts say it would be unthinkable for U.S. aircraft carriers to challenge Chinese forces in the seas around Taiwan in the way they did a quarter of a century ago.

Back then, one carrier sailed through the Taiwan Strait as another manouvered close by to end days of Chinese missile launches and military drills as Beijing protested Taiwan's first direct presidential election.

More than half of the U.S. Navy's 111 currently deployed battle force ships are now within the Japanese-based Seventh Fleet's sphere of responsibility that straddles the western Pacific and Indian oceans, according to the tracking by the independent U.S. Naval Institute.

Deploying ships en masse to the Chinese coast is another matter, given China's inventory of advanced cruise and ballistic missiles and its expansive surface fleet, regional security analysts say.

Four powerful vessels - the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli and the guided missile cruiser USS Antietam are east of Taiwan, Reuters has confirmed. Another assault ship - which also carries F-35 strike fighter aircraft - is at port nearby in Japan.

Some security analysts say it was highly likely U.S. attack submarines were also close to such a formation.

The passage of the Reagan strike group was particularly closely watched by regional security analysts in the days before Pelosi's mission.

Radio Free Asia last month reported it was due to call in the central Vietnamese port of Danang in July after patrols in the southern South China Sea near China's fortifications in the Spratlys.

Diplomats familiar with its route said the strike group turned around and instead headed for a five-day stop in Singapore starting July 22.

The move came as China launched exercises between July 16 and 20 surrounding its bases further north in the Paracel islands, east of Danang and covering 100,000 square km, according to statements by local maritime authorities.

Neither U.S. nor Vietnamese officials have commented on the switch, or the reason for it, but a U.S. Navy official told Reuters this week that schedules "often change" without confirmation or notice.

The Reagan later headed through the tight sealanes of the Philippines' archipelago before reaching waters west of Taiwan, according to an official U.S. naval Facebook page.

Singapore-based security scholar Collin Koh said the passage through the Philippines' San Bernadino strait by an aircraft carrier was unusual, instead of sailing north between the Philippines and south China coast.

"I think it shows some carefully calibrated deployments, designed to not unnecessarily provoke China even while ensuring they're moving to where they need to be."

Taiwan tensions reveal challenges for U.S. navy as Chinese threat grows

U.S. military officials repeatedly talk of "routine" patrols to support a "free and open Indo-Pacific" but the realities are increasingly challenging amid the worst Taiwan tensions since 1996, according to diplomats, military attaches and security analysts

www.zawya.com

 

[xizhimen]

Taiwan: China warns US to not stir up bigger crisis, steps up military drills for the third day​

East Asian nation says it detected multiple Chinese aircraft and naval vessels taking part in military drills around the Taiwan Strait on Saturday

Published 06.08.22, 06:57 PM

---

China, on Saturday, warned the US not to stir up a bigger crisis over Taiwan, as it stepped up its military drills and warplane incursions in the Taiwan Straits for the third day following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei, which Beijing feels has challenged its claims of sovereignty over the self-ruled island.

Taiwan says it detected multiple Chinese aircraft and naval vessels taking part in military drills around the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, in what could be a possible simulated attack against the island.

Taiwan's Ministry of Defence said some of the Chinese aircraft and vessels had crossed the sensitive median line in the Taiwan Strait that separates the island from the Chinese mainland.

While the scale of the military drills has led to speculation that China may be getting ready for an invasion of Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi played down the reports.

“It's a complete rumour and slander that the US claims that China has changed the status quo in the Taiwan Straits,” he said.

Pelosi's high-profile visit to Taipei on Wednesday and her meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen and other leaders has infuriated China, which views the self-governed democratic island as its territory that should be reunified with the mainland, even by force.

Foreign Minister Wang has warned the US not to stir up a bigger crisis over Taiwan, while defending the unprecedented military drills by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the Taiwan Strait, which included firing missiles over the island.

Wang, who attended the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Phnom Penh was quoted in the official media here as saying that the usual tactic of the US is that it will first create the problems, and then use them to achieve their goal.

"But this approach will not work on China," he said.

“We must solemnly warn the US not to act rashly or create a bigger crisis,” he said, a day after Beijing imposed sanctions on Pelosi and her immediate family.

China has also halted co-operation with the US in several key areas including climate change, military affairs and efforts to combat international crime.

"The People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. This is the real status quo of the Taiwan question," Wang said, refuting criticism from the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who accused Beijing of changing the status quo over Taiwan using Pelosi's visit as an excuse.

Blinken, who is also in Phnom Penh, told the media on Friday that China's military drills around Taiwan in response to Pelosi's visit to the self-ruled island is a disproportionate and unjustified escalation.

"There is no justification for this extreme, disproportionate and escalatory military response," Blinken said on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting, adding, "now, they've taken dangerous acts to a new level."

For the third day on Saturday, China continued the joint combat training exercises in the northern, southwestern and eastern waters and airspace off Taiwan Island as scheduled, in a bid to test consecutively the joint operation capability of the theatre command troops.

China's four-day drills were announced on Thursday.

It is not clear whether the PLA, which has gone in for the largest mobilisation of the military, including deploying an aircraft group and a nuclear submarine will announce another set of drills.

Defending the PLA's military drills and Japan saying that China fired four missiles over Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said the visit by Speaker Pelosi triggered the current tensions and all China's countermeasures are justified, necessary, and proportionate. We hope the Japanese side will have the correct understanding on this .

Pelosi, 82, is the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years.

The PLA also announced another set of war games from Monday in the northern Yellow Sea off the South Korean coast in an apparent warning to the US troops stationed there.

China's Maritime Safety Administration issued a navigational warning that the exercises would last 14 days.

The Eastern Theatre Command of the PLA said on Saturday it continued joint combat exercises and training in the northern, southwestern and eastern waters and airspace of China's Taiwan island as planned, the official media reported.

On Friday, the air force under the PLA Eastern Theatre Command dispatched multi-type warplanes, including fighter jets, bombers, early-warning aircraft, electronic reconnaissance aircraft to conduct drills on such combat missions as airspace control operation, air support and cover, air strike, reconnaissance and early warning around the Taiwan island.

The Taiwan Defence Ministry, which is overwhelmed by the scale of the military build-up by China, said on Saturday that multiple PLA craft were detected around Taiwan Strait, some have crossed the median line, dividing the mainland and the island.

“As many as 49 PLA aircraft flew on the east part of the median line of the Taiwan Strait on August 5, 2022,” it said.

“The recent coercion from PRC's drills around us aimed to change the status quo of Taiwan Strait, violated our sovereignty, and caused tension in the Indo-Pacific region. #ROCArmedForces seek no escalation, but we succumb to no challenges and respond with reason,” it said.

Taiwan: China warns US to not stir up bigger crisis, steps up military drills for the third day

East Asian nation says it detected multiple Chinese aircraft and naval vessels taking part in military drills around the Taiwan Strait on Saturday

www.telegraphindia.com

 

[xizhimen]

ASEAN-9 Summit Includes Plea for Peace in South China Sea​

August 06, 2022 9:39

ASEAN-9 Summit Includes Plea for Peace in South China Sea

Myanmar and COVID-19 also top agenda overshadowed by Pelosi's Taiwan visit

www.voanews.com

 

[xizhimen]

This Taiwan crisis is a mile stone event, US sole global domination and hegemony is officially over.

 

[Gary]

This Taiwan crisis is a mile stone event, US sole global domination and hegemony is officially over.

How is it over ? by visiting Taiwan without any repercussions, US shows who is boss in Asia. Lol

 

[xizhimen]

How is it over ? by visiting Taiwan without any repercussions, US shows who is boss in Asia. Lol

China takes full advantage of this mere visit to hone her long sought after chance of invasion military drill in Taiwan strait, PLA really should thank Pelosi.

 

[Gary]

China takes full advantage of this mere visit to hone her long sought after chance of invasion military drill in Taiwan strait, PLA really should thank Pelosi.

Still doesn't explain how it ended US dominance. The fact that China must "wait" for the USA to make its move shows who is the dominant power in Asia.