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Taiwan has joined Hong Kong as a focal point in the escalating US-China standoff, with both sides ratcheting up their belligerent rhetoric and military activities.
Taiwan’s current president, Tsai Ing-wen, was elected in January, becoming the first woman to win the office. Voters gave her Democratic Progressive Party control of Taiwan’s legislature for the first time, giving her broad authority to enact her policies in office.
Ms. Tsai obtained 56 percent of the vote while her main opponent, Eric Chu of the party that had been in power, Kuomintang, obtained 31 percent. Although her Democratic Progressive Party is reported as being more sceptical of closer ties with China, the new president adopted a cautious tone during the inauguration ceremony last week. It appears however that broader geopolitical events are pushing the Chinese neighbours to renewed military tensions.
On 20 May the US approved the potential sale of heavyweight torpedoes to Taiwan, the latest in a long series of weapons contracts which in recent times have included the sale of 250 portable surface to air Stinger missiles mid-March, for a total value of over $440 million, and a contract granted to Raytheon in April 2019 to upgrade for Taiwan’s Patriot missile batteries. Role of US weapons in Taiwan’s force modernization programs: LINK; Taiwan’s Overall Missile Capabilities: LINK
The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs issued a press release on 21 May stating that the State Department has approved a foreign military sale of 18 MK-48 Mod6 Advanced Technology heavyweight torpedoes and related equipment at a cost of US$180 million, according to CNA.
In an article by the Taiwan News outlet, National Chung Cheng University’s Institute of Strategy and International Affairs assistant professor Lin Ying-yu pointed out that underwater military strength is the biggest threat to Chinese Navy ships, as it would restrict their movement — something the U.S. would like to see. He also noted that the torpedoes must be launched by submarines.
Therefore, although the sale of torpedoes benefits Taiwan’s defence, without effective coordination with the island nation’s existing submarines, these new weapons would be of little help, Lin concluded. He stated that the ulterior motive of this sale is to demonstrate that the U.S. can still help Taiwan through arms deals.
Su Tzu-yun, a scholar at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the torpedo’s low propulsion noise, long-range attack capability, and other characteristics can contribute to Taiwan’s strategy of asymmetric warfare and maintain a balance of underwater combat power in the Taiwan Strait.
Su observed that the most important feature of the MK-48 is its large warhead charge, weighing about 1,000 kg, which can destroy large surface vessels such as aircraft carriers. According to Su, the range of an MK-48 torpedo is about 50 kilometres and the maximum speed is approximately 102 kilometres per hour, 2.5 times the speed of large surface ships.
At present, Taiwan’s Dutch-built Sea Dragon-class submarines have been in service for more than 30 years and with a life extension have about 15 years left, the scholar said.
In other developments, in response to Japanese media reports that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is planning on holding war games in August to prepare for a future assault on the Taiwan-controlled Dongsha Islands (Pratas Islands), on 13 May China threatened that it could turn the military exercises into an invasion of the island and even Taiwan proper itself.
On 12 May 12, Kyodo News reported that the PLA’s Southern Theatre Command is allegedly planning a simulated invasion of the Dongsha islands with Hainan island as its practice field. The mock invasion will reportedly take place in August and include a large number of marines, landing ships, hovercraft, and helicopters.
In response to the report, the Global Times cited experts as saying that the Dongsha Islands are in a ‘strategically important location’ and that the PLA has the capability of turning “any exercise into action if Taiwan secessionists insist on secession”.
In response to the news of the exercises, Taiwanese Ministry of Defense (MND) Chief of Joint Operations Major General Lin Wen-huang on May 12 tried to reassure the public that the military has contingency plans in place in the event of a Chinese attack and that it will strengthen combat readiness on its outer islands, including the Dongsha Islands.
The earlier reports have since been confirmed, and that one or even both of China’s aircraft carriers may take part in the military exercises. Earlier today Taiwan News stated that China is reportedly planning on deploying two aircraft carriers in waters near Taiwan as part of its war games in August to rehearse for a future assault on the Taiwan-controlled Dongsha Islands.
On Monday of this week News.com.au reported that for the first time, both of Chinas aircraft carriers, the Liaoning and Shandong, are being deployed together in Bohai Bay in the Yellow Sea to conduct combat readiness drills. The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) carriers are engaged in the second week of an 11-week simulated military confrontation that will later extend into the South China Sea.
The South China Morning Post subsequently cited a military source as saying that “An aircraft carrier strike group will pass through the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands) on its way to the exercise site to the southeast of Taiwan in the Philippine Sea.”
Since the PLA announced it would hold the military exercise, the American military has stepped up warship and fighter patrols in the South China Sea. On Tuesday (26 May) the U.S. Airforce dispatched two B-1B bombers and a refueling aircraft to fly toward the South China Sea after passing over the Bashi Channel to the south of Taiwan and near Hong Kong. The two bombers and the KC-135R tanker aircraft left Andersen Air Force Base in Guam on their way to the South China Sea, according to Aircraft Spots.
There is speculation in the region that the aircraft having flown near Hong Kong might also be a signal to China over the proposed national security law which sparked a resumption of protests within Hong Kong itself.
Developments in Hong Kong are probably not a major factor of themselves however, as the US regularly conducts naval and maritime drills and manoeuvres throughout the region. On 14 May the U.S. Navy posted pictures of one of its warships sailing through the sensitive Taiwan Strait for the sixth time this year. The passage had taken place the previous day, when the guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG 85) steamed through the 180-kilometre-wide strait separating Taiwan and China as “part of ongoing operations in the Indo-Pacific,” according to the post on the U.S Pacific Fleet Facebook page.
The vessel was sailing southward off Taiwan’s west coast but did not make known its destination. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence later issued a statement, noting that it was fully aware of the transit, which it characterized as routine.
It was the sixth such transit of the strait by an American warship so far this year. U.S. naval vessels passed through the area a total of nine times last year, according to CNA.
While the announcement of the operation followed reports on 12 May of a Chinese military exercise scheduled for August in the South China Sea to simulate an invasion of the Taiwan-controlled Dongsha Islands (Pratas Islands), it must have been planned and put into effect much earlier. Also, on 13 May a US littoral combat ship was operating in the southern reaches of the South China Sea. The Pacific Fleet said it was the second time in a week this type of vessel had patrolled those waters in support of “freedom of navigation and overflight.”
As a full scale invasion of Taiwan would be extremely complicated, China might try to have its own Crimea by occupying some strategic islands like the Dongsha and the Penghu, that even if they are closer to Taiwan, considering the depths of sea, geographically should be considered part of the Mainland.
Perhaps China could stage a Gulf of Tonkin incident in the Taiwan straight? Magong looks a good goal.
China needs to stay cool and continue with its economic and strategic expansion. US is a dying dinosaur and has made too many enemies around the world. China needs to strengthen its alliances, especially Russian Federation and Iran, who are key players in Eurasia.
Wise words, the British in 1962 forced India to provoke China and the results were disastrous for India. Our senior military command failed and did not appraise PM Nehru of the real situation. Brij Mohan Kaul was the Lieutenant General in the Indian Army who controlled the ground operations. He resigned in the aftermath of the 1962 Sino-Indian War and the whole northern command was reorganized.
PM Harold Macmillan the limey cunt pushed India into a losing war with China and then both the devious Brits and the dumbass Americunts chickened out. They will do the same again.
China will not invade Formosa as eventually it fall in China’s lap like a rotten apple. They are same people and the Han Chinese unlike Arabs or Euro trash don’t like killing their own people.
If Taiwan wont fight they cant get usury loans to freedom from us.
But US is bankrupt and owes China over $2 trillion, so what loans are you talking about? US has a balance of trade deficit even with Taiwan. Do some homework!
Are you really that stupid a cunt?
China is going to disintegrate in some years.
No nation, empire nor kingdom can withstand the test of time. The US is poised to disintegrate before this version of China will.
Chinese are not producing any kids :D. How do you think its gonna survive the next 25 years?
Dumbass they have a population of over 1.4 billion people with a high tech educated economy, unlike you Indian roaches who breed like rats and shit in the streets. In 1962, in NEFA two Indian divisions surrendered without firing a shot just to get fed by the Chinese and then the PLA even cleaned and fixed their third rate equipment and returned it. This time China with the most modern army in the world would walk all the way to Delhi in a few hours. Idiot, modern armies don’t need manpower, they depend on brains and technology. Stupid street shitter PP.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6081fda2993f708b96f18a79d82155769115e07a2bcc2303cb8b8edf52afa534.jpg
Lol.Our political leadership was weak at that time. This time, you will see what we do with them on the India China border stupid mutah guy.
Flagged.
BTW do you know whose your father ?Ive heard that in iran any guy can sleep with any girl under mutah contract you shia bastard :D
Dear SF moderators this person previously posted as PP and brings nothing but vulgarities and nonsense to the board. He was previously banned and that should continue with the new log in as well. It is these types of worthless trolls who distort discussions. Thank you.
Sorry, do you have a link to the video from where the screenshot is taken?
I studied the PLA NEFA and Aksai Chin lightening campaign at staff officers and command college and it was textbook high altitude Chinese lightening victory campaign. There are plenty of videos on Youtube, just type in Indian troops surrendering enmasse to PLA NEFA 1962. It was disgraceful starving Indian soldiers throwing away their guns and begging the PLA soldiers for food and kissing their feet. No surrendering army has ever stopped so low. The Chinese marched in and captured over 56,000 sq kms in less than 48 hours and captured a whole Indian corps that was armed with latest Americunt and British weapons including the light 105mm Mountain Howitzer, which the fleeing Indians never fired and the PLA later cloned it. Chinese even repaired Indian weapons and returned them like brand new. Indian military has no chance against China.
https://www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=photos+of+Indian+troops+surrendering+to+the+Chinese+1962&client=firefox-b&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiG9N6hgdbpAhXtyzgGHWU-C_wQ7Al6BAgHEBk&biw=1280&bih=699
Stupid PP with another fake account LOL
You are an imbecile who was banned and are now back with more idiotic comments. You contribute nothing but juvenile attention seeking.
Ms. Tsai was not “elected” this January, she was re-elected. So it’s a bit strange to say she was the “first woman to yada yada” (who cares about that anyway except stupid Americans) when she’s been on the job for years. While the opposition KMT may well be “the party that had been in power” for most of the existence of Taiwan ROC, the formulation is very misleading in that it suggests that the pan-blue bloc had been in power most-recently, quod non.
Who is writing this stuff? Before expounding on a topic, might as well know the basics; it’s getting worse and worse.
There is no question that the Americunts are dying like rabid dogs and like all dying evil empires, they are creating final conflicts, but will fail and China is now too powerful and has too much economic clout. Taiwan is like a rotten apple that will fall in China’s lap anyway. Militarily the PRC would defeat the Americunt losers in a week in conventional warfare. The Americunts are spread thin, have too many enemies, their economy and deadbeat as the Jew cunts have bled it dry and most importantly China controls the global supply chain, so the stupid Americunt morons don’t have a snowballs chance in hell. They are goading the starving Indians to fight China at 20,000 feet peaks, last time the Indians tried that the outcome was not that good. Most starving Indians were happy to surrender just for a meal as you can see. India today will not be that stupid to get its poverty stricken economy shot to pieces as Pakistan will wrestle Kashmir if there is Sino-Indian conflict. The Americunts are stupid dumbasses.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b22c5f1c331a4898aaabd2f0ba6455f6c4ba9532106f96dc5367ebf1ba6871b4.jpg
Hey mutah guy , do you know who your father is?
Flagged as this imbecile previously posted as PP and was banned.
He is not an Indian, but an embarrassment.
If Pakistan had even half-way competent military operations and strategic planners, which is doubtful, they should be planning contingencies for the remote chance the PLA teaches India another quick lesson. Pakistan should take advantage and go for Kashmir. Today’s PLA is one of the most disciplined and modern armies in the world and are capable of fighting on multiple fronts. Russia has supplied most the modern weaponry.
India can not afford a conflict with China that will destroy India and its modest economic growth. Our economy is already in trouble.
why is modi such a zionist?
Our Congress Party is socialist and has guided India all the way back to its Independence. The Nehru family with Mrs. Indira Gandhi wanted a non-aligned India, so the CIA destabilized the country killing both Mrs. Gandhi and her son Rajiv and picked an uneducated “Chai Wallah” (tea stall thug) Modi of the extremist RSS as a counterweight to Congress and an independent India. Just like Erdogan in Turkey. The Zionists with US support have made inroads in Indian establishment under Modi who caters to their Islamophobic and divisive agenda and now both the Zionists and US are pushing Modi into a suicidal confrontation with China at a time our economy is going backwards. Any war with China will bring in Pakistan as they are close allies and even Sonia Gandhi has warned Modi not to fall into a US trap of using India as cannon fodder to fight China by proxies, just like they do in the Arab world. Most educated Indians are nationalists and will not allow US to destroy our country.
yes you cannot let them use you, they just want to use you to further their sick, twisted agendas
during the last 3,500 years the world has been at peace only 8% of the time, you must contact indian high command and set negotiation talks with chinese and tell them.you are being MANIPULATED!
The British pushed Nehru into a suicidal conflict with Chinese and the results were humiliating for India. Now even a CIA stooge like Modi is aware that China and India should not engage in conflict for the benefit of the west. Asians normally settle their differences peacefully.
It in beyond incredulous for a rational mind to even contemplate that 23 million isolated Taiwanese pose any serious challenge to the People’s Republic of China. The US is desperate to push Taiwan to an early suicide. The Chinese have a wise and steady leadership and with patience will achieve the reunification of Taiwan whose economy is increasingly integrated with the PRC anyway. The US is a declining failed state and these are simply the desperation of a fading power which helplessly watches the Geo-strategic power-shift to the Eurasia centric old world. US simply blew it due to hubris.
US illogically perceives the “rise of China” as a threat to the delusional preeminent power of the United States. There is clearly appreciable “decline of the United States” in our time, since the United States loses its economic, cultural and political influence, and its once hyped up powerful military force no longer remains in charge of the main global economic institutions (mainly through manipulating the fake power of the dollar as a world currency and through the control of the International Monetary Fund by the U.S. Treasury). Nonetheless, the United States is not prepared to tolerate the arrival of China as the first major economic pole and may blunder in into a swan song conflict it can not win.
BREAKING NEWS: so much for the stupid impotent Americunt loudmout dumbasses
China’s parliament approves Hong Kong national security bill
National People’s Congress votes 2,878 to 1 in favour of decision to impose national security legislation on Hong Kong.
Meaning soros/nazis out,no more punks packa problematic no good losers ruining hong kong!
china won’t have another taiwan to deal with and thus hong kong will have to be fitted into the mold – simple as all that. taiwan demonstrates how the disunited states of A infiltrates and manipulates in order to cause trouble and is just another item for the yankeetwats to use in the china-bashing the disjointed and moronic states of A is engaging in.
We have the right to defend Taiwan because our US/Nato Inherent Resolve Freedom Coalition was invited by the democratic elected Taiwan government to defend their soil against Chinese aggression.
Therefore we also have the right to test nuclear bombs in International waterways with freedom of navigation in the strait between Taiwan and China!
Who liberated tawain from the japs?
CCP has a big moth. They will never dare to move a single finger against Taiwan. Or USA will give green light to Japan to deal with this slaves.