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Posted on 12/10/2024 6:58:14 AM PST by BenLurkin
TAIPEI, Taiwan — China's secretive military appears to be up to something around Taiwan, but it's unclear whether it's a formal military drill.
Taiwan's Defense Ministry said Tuesday that it has detected a dozen Chinese naval ships and 47 military planes in the past 24 hours but no live-fire activity as in previous military exercises. The deployment covers a wider area this time, with additional ships going beyond Taiwan into other parts of the Pacific, defense officials said at a news conference.
Lt. Gen. Hsieh Jih-sheng said China's navy is creating two walls — one at Taiwan's perimeter and another outside the first island chain, which extends south from Japan and through Taiwan to the Philippines. "The message they are sending is very simple: The Taiwan Strait is ours," he said, referring to the waters between Taiwan and China.
The military has been bracing for possible drills by China in response to a recent overseas trip by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te that included Hawaii and Guam, an American territory.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and opposes the self-governing island having official interactions with other countries, and in particular, the United States. Lai spoke with U.S. congressional leaders by phone while in Guam last week. While the U.S., like most of the world, doesn't formally recognize Taiwan as a country, it is the largest supplier of arms to the island of 23 million people for its defense.
Without any announcement from China on military drills, Taiwan officials are calling the ongoing activity a training exercise. Hsieh noted that training can become drills, and drills can become war.
"It's in the status of regular training," he said. "But under the status of normalized training, it's able to mobilize military forces on such a large scale and carry out exercises in such a large area."
China, which views Lai as a separatist, held major military exercises around Taiwan following his inauguration in May and his National Day speech in October. It also held a major drill after Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, visited Taiwan in 2022.
Taiwan's military set up an emergency response center on Monday in response to the increased Chinese naval activity and the announcement of flight restrictions in seven zones off China's east coast. The restrictions are in place until Wednesday.
"We have noticed that there are no live-fire drill activities in the seven exercise areas as planned in the past," said Hsieh, who heads the office of the deputy chief of general staff for intelligence.
China is just seeing how far it’s ships can get from shore before they break down or auto-sink.
The Biden admin is as friendly as it's going to get for them and they don't want to wait another decade.
This may be the big one.
Sounds like the Biden Administration must have called the Chinese and ask if they could help get WWIII started before Orange Hitler takes power.
“””Taiwan’s Defense Ministry says a large Chinese military force has been detected nearby”””
A lot of headlines make me glad that I live in America.
That is how I have been viewing the days up to 1/20/2025.
Democrats attacking the country from within, to get away with as much as they can before the hammer drops when Trump officially takes office.
Enemies without looking at their options before the inauguration.
Exactly!
The snake is coiling up, getting ready to strike.
While Biden is asleep and his administration folks are busy working on their resumes.
“This may be the big one.”
*************
Doesn’t have to be a big one. There are other moves that China can make with higher probabilities of success than a major invasion. Just saying.
Formosa belongs to the Mainland.
We are living in a very dangerous time all the way to January 20, 2025
🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱
🛐🛐🛐🙏🙏🙏🙏✝️✝️✝️✝️🛐🙏🙏🙏
True that. The Left is deeply resentful about its rejection which makes it dangerously unpredictable.
Live in America!
.
Thanks You Jesus!
Correct much rather start a war with an senile old president in office.
That is friendly to you.
Then other wise.
True. However, that didn’t stop Japan from successfully invading Formosa in May.
“That is friendly to you”
I would think
“Bought and paid by you” is more accurate?
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