As America and its allies remain transfixed by the chaos stemming from Russian tanks rumbling across the border and the reaction of the West to that invasion, China is using the distraction as an opportunity to start rattling the saber over Taiwan, pledging that it won’t hesitate to invade if it feels the need to.
News on that came in a recent Bloomberg article on the Taiwan situation and Chinese saber-rattling regarding it, in which Bloomberg reported that:
Chinese military officials in recent months have repeatedly asserted that the Taiwan Strait isn’t international waters during meetings with US counterparts, according to a person familiar with the situation, generating concern within the Biden administration.
The statement disputing the US view of international law has been delivered to the American government by Chinese officials on multiple occasions and at multiple levels, the person said.
The US, as a reminder, does treat the Taiwan Straight as international waters, hence why it sends United States Navy ships, typically Arleigh-Burke class destroyers, the workhorse of the US fleet, on Freedom of Navigation Exercises through the straight.
The Pentagon, for its part, has responded by saying that the United States will maintain its present policy regarding the Straight, saying:
“The United States will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, and that includes transiting through the Taiwan Strait.”
Biden has gone even further, claiming, in a statement later “clarified” (backed off of) by the White House that the US would stand by Taiwan in the case of a Chinese invasion
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has maintained quite the opposite, arguing that China exercises sovereignty over the Taiwan Straight, saying in a recent statement that:
“There is no such thing as international waters in international maritime law. Relevant countries claim that the Taiwan Strait is in international waters with the aim to manipulate the Taiwan question and threaten China’s sovereignty.”
Showing that the Red Chinse take that seriously and are willing to take major steps to ensure that the United States does too, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s Chinese counterpart recently warned Austin, and thus America, that China would not hesitate to start a war over “the Taiwan question” if it is further separated from China.
ZeroHedge, reporting on that startling claim, notes that:
Wei had warned Austin that “if anyone dares to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese army will definitely not hesitate to start a war no matter the cost“, defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian quoted the minister as saying during the meeting.
Further Wei vowed that China would “smash to smithereens any ‘Taiwan independence’ plot and resolutely uphold the unification of the motherland,” as emphasized in a defense ministry statement issued following the conclusion of the meeting. He “stressed that Taiwan is China’s Taiwan… Using Taiwan to contain China will never prevail,” further according to the statement.
Austin, apparently, in response to the Chinese threats and saber-rattling “reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the (Taiwan) Strait, opposition to unilateral changes to the status quo, and called on (China) to refrain from further destabilising actions toward Taiwan“.
That’s hardly a direct, forceful response to Red China of the sort that China delivered to America. Still, at least Biden and his team aren’t completely backing down.
By: Gen Z Conservative, editor of GenZConservative.com. Follow me on Facebook and Subscribe to My Email List
This story syndicated with permission from Will, Author at Trending Politics