China’s President Xi Jinping has said that “reunification” with Taiwan “must be fulfilled”, as heightened tensions over the island continue.
Mr Xi said unification should be achieved peacefully, but warned that the Chinese people had a “glorious tradition” of opposing separatism.
In response, Taiwan said its future lay in the hands of its people.
Taiwan considers itself a sovereign state, while China views it as a breakaway province.
Across China’s public parks and squares, in the early hours of the morning or late in the afternoon, the grannies gather.
The gangs, made up mostly of middle-aged and older women who went through the Cultural Revolution, take to a corner of a local park or sporting ground and dance in unison to Chinese music. Loud music.
The tradition has led to alarming standoffs, with the blaring music frequently blamed for disturbing the peace in often high-density residential areas. But many are too scared to confront the women.
Chinese officials have ordered more than 70 mines in Inner Mongolia to increase coal production by almost 100m tonnes, with the country battling its worst power crunch and coal shortages in years.
The move is the latest attempt by Chinese authorities to boost coal supply amid record high prices and shortages of electricity that have led to power rationing across the country, crippling industrial output.
The proposed increase would make up almost 3% of China’s total thermal coal consumption. In an urgent notice dated 7 October, the Inner Mongolia regional energy department asked the cities of Wuhai, Ordos and Hulunbuir, as well as Xilingol League, to notify 72 mines that they may operate at stipulated higher capacities immediately, provided they ensure safe production.
A US nuclear submarine hit an “unknown object” while submerged in waters in the Asia-Pacific region, injuring a number of sailors, US officials say.
It was not clear what caused the incident on Saturday, they said. The submarine remained “fully operational”.
Unnamed officials told US media the collision happened in international waters in the South China Sea, and that 11 sailors had been injured.
The incident happened amid rising tensions in the region.
Tensions continue to rise in the South China Sea, as China, or, rightly, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), ramps up its military activities in the region. Within only the first four days of October, China conducted a record-breaking 150 incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) — after China’s People Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) had already, in September, set another monthly record with 117 incursions, some with nuclear-capable bombers, fighter jets and reconnaissance planes. The incursions were reportedly the highest monthly number on record since Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense began reporting Chinese aerial incursions 13 months ago. In addition, in August, the first-ever incursion of Chinese military helicopters into Taiwan’s ADIZ took place, with experts suggesting that the PLA was probing Taiwanese defense capabilities by using different aircraft.
The island is slipping from China’s control
Over the weekend, China sent waves of warplanes racing towards Taiwan in numbers not seen before, forcing the democratic self-ruled island to scramble fighters and ready its air defense missiles. The United States says it is ‘very concerned’ by Beijing’s ‘provocative’ actions and reiterated Washington’s ‘rock solid’ commitment to the island.
According to Taiwan’s defense ministry, 38 Chinese aircraft, including nuclear-capable bombers and J-16 fighter jets, entered its air defense identification zone on Friday, and another 39 did so again on Saturday — the largest incursion to date.
Hmmmmm – China could mount full-scale invasion by 2025, Taiwan defence minister says
China will be ready to mount a full-scale invasion of Taiwan by 2025, the island’s defence minister has said, describing current tensions as the worst in 40 years.
Speaking to the China Times on Wednesday, Chiu Kuo-cheng said China was capable now but would be completely prepared to launch an invasion in three years.
“By 2025 China will bring the cost and attrition to its lowest. It has the capacity now, but it will not start a war easily, having to take many other things into consideration,” he said.
US and Chinese scientists were planning to create a new coronavirus before the pandemic erupted, leaked proposals show.
Last month, a grant application submitted to the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) revealed that an international team of scientists had planned to mix genetic data of similar strains to create a new virus.
The grant application was made in 2018 and leaked to Drastic, the pandemic origins analysis group.
I think the China class should be rounded up.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he hopes to share a decision on whether to ban Huawei from Canada’s 5G network in the coming weeks.
Orders for PCR test kits spiked in the Chinese province where Covid originated seven months before the first case was reported, it has emerged, providing fresh evidence that the disease was circulating for months before Beijing reported it to the world.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Wuhan University of Science and Technology and the Hubei CDC were all among institutions placing unusually-large orders for PCR test kits starting in May 2019, according to new research.
A former inmate of a Uighur detention camp has revealed how he was ordered to bend over by prison guards so that other detainees could gang rape him.
The whistleblower gave his account to CNN who also interviewed an ex-cop who described how he would beat children as young as 14 and that he regularly witnessed both men and women being battered by guards.
Torture methods included chaining inmates to metal chairs, hanging them from the ceiling, sexual violence, electrocutions and waterboarding.
If Canadians think China’s hostage diplomacy with the two Michaels was bad, they need to understand that the communist regime could hold all of Canada hostage if our country’s federal government allows Huawei Technologies to provide any part of our 5G wireless network.
Fifth-generation wireless technology will make driverless cars, remote surgeries and other marvels of technology possible — as well as simply faster entertainment downloads. But it could also unleash devastation at the hands of a hostile regime, as China has proven to be over the past few years.
China, through investments in and ownership of ports, is expanding its global maritime reach, and its appetite for ports shows no signs of diminishing. As of July 2020, Chinese firms reportedly “(partly) owned or operated some ninety-five ports across the globe.”
Out of the 95 ports, 22 are in Europe, 20 in the Middle East and North Africa, 18 in the Americas, 18 in South and Southeast Asia, and nine in sub-Saharan Africa. Just three Chinese companies, among them COSCO Shipping Ports and China Merchants Port, two central state-owned enterprises (SOE), account for the operations of 81% of those ports.
Will China Invade Taiwan? Despite the recent saber-rattling, probably not any time soon. It lacks the amphibious capacity to land the 30-plus brigades it will need to overcome the island’s defense. “China does not appear to be currently investing in the equipment likely required for a direct assault on Taiwan, such as large amphibious assault ships and medium landing craft necessary for a large beach assault.”
Canada should collaborate more with its partners in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance to confront the challenges China and Russia pose to the liberal democracies in the West, a new report says.
Titled “Evolving the Five Eyes: Opportunities and Challenges in the New Strategic Landscape,” the report says the members of the Five Eyes—Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and New Zealand—could work together to expand the ability of the alliance to counter China and Russia on a wider range of fronts, particularly in the areas of technology, information, military, and economics.
Trudeau and the China class will probably cause Canada to leave “Five Eyes.”
Bagram Airfield, once the linchpin of the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan, is said to be powered and serving planes again. A foreign force is rumored to be involved, with fingers pointed at China, which denied eyeing the base.
A photo shared on social media purportedly shows the base on Sunday night with its floodlights on. There are claims that several planes have landed at and taken off from the airfield in recent hours. If confirmed, it would be the first time Bagram had served aircraft in almost 50 days, marking a significant development.
