Completing military drills in the Taiwan Strait today, the Peoples Liberation Army [PLA] prepares for what 69-year-old Chinese President Xi Jinping calls the great reunification with the renegade Island of Formosa. Mainland China once controlled Taiwan before Chinese nationalists led by Gen. Chaing Kai-shek led China’s anti-communists during the 1949 Maoist Revolution to seek refuge on the Island of Formosa. Xi has staked his legacy on bringing back Formosa to Beijing, something rejected by Taiwan-based Republic of China [ROC]. Former President Jimmy Carter signed the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, ending the 1954 Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, requiring the U.S. to only recognized one China, the one in Beijing. So, it was Carter that created today’s problems, leaving 80-year-old President Joe Biden to warn Beijing that the U.S. would commit troops to defend Taiwan.
Before Biden broke with 44-years of “strategic ambiguity,” where he committed U.S. troops to defend Taiwan, 82-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) visited Taipei Aug. 4, 2022, infuriating the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]. China started menacing air and sea incursions into Taiwan’s Defense Identification Zone, warning Taiwan’s 66-year-old President Tsai Ing-wen that more provocation could result in a Mainland invasion. Instead of avoiding confrontation, Tsai went ahead April 7 visiting 58-year-old House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif. Tsai has pushed U.S.-Chinese relations to the brink, deliberately provoking Xi Jinping. China’s military drills around Taiwan took on a different flavor, this time rehearsing a possible invasion, utilizing China’s Shandong aircraft carrier with its fleet of J-15 jets to circle Taiwan.
China has sent scores of strategic bombers and warships in the Taiwan Strait for years, escalating PLA drills during the last year since Pelosi’s visit. Recent military drills simulated a Chinese invasion, showing that Xi means business when it comes to re-unifying Taiwan with Mainland China. Tsai told U.S. lawmakers at the Reagan Library
April 7 that Taiwan has worked hard to preserve its democracy, pulling on U.S. lawmakers to back the island nation. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), 67, one of Biden’s biggest Ukraine War and Taiwan backers said he was open to sending U.S. troops to defend Taiwan in the event of a Mainland invasion. Graham also antagonizes Xi, warning Beijing that it would face the U.S. military in any action toward Taiwan. Biden and Graham have pushed things with Xi to the breaking point, daring the Chinese president to invade Taiwan.
Biden created a foreign policy mess funding a proxy war using Ukrainian troops to fight the Russian Federation. Never before in U.S. post-WW II history has the U.S. taken on the Russia. Biden’s decision to join Kiev’s war against the Kremlin has created the worst U.S.-Russian relations in post-WW II history. With Russia hysteria sweeping Capitol Hill, it’s easy to get GOP backing to Biden’s aggressive foreign policy with Russia and China. But instead of thinking about the repercussions, Biden has pushed China to the breaking point, now pushing a two-front war, one with Russia, the other with China. Pentagon officials are having enough problems supplying Ukraine with prospects of war with China unthinkable. Yet the Biden White House and Congress have pushed Xi Jinping to attack Taiwan. With Pentagon leaks hitting the Internet, the world knows that Ukraine hasn’t gone well for Kiev.
White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby said there’s no reason for Beijing to get up in arms over Tsai’s U.S., then hosting a Congressional delegation in Taipei. “There was no reason to react in any way militarily,” Kirby said. “There is no reason for tensions across the Taiwan Strait to devolve into any kind of conflict,” Kirby said. Kirby apparently hasn’t listen to Biden threaten China from Day One of his presidency. Biden accused Beijing of genocide against Muslim Uyghurs March 18, 2021, setting a back tone for diplomatic relations. Calling Putin a “soulless killer” on the same date, Biden took two years to wreck decades of relations with Russia and China. Kirby doesn’t recall Biden telling Xi Sept. 23, 2022 that he would defend Taiwan with U.S. troops, violating the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. What’s Kiev thinking with Biden’s committing U.S. troops to Taiwan?
China’s show of force in the Taiwan Strait was different this time around, rehearsing with an aircraft carrier strike force how to surround the island and attack on all sides. U.S. officials should measure their rhetoric carefully, knowing that Beijing won’t tolerate much more provocation. Biden found out the hard way that he doesn’t have Xi’s support to denigrate the Russian Federation on its war in Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron, fresh off his lavish state visit to Beijing, told the press that France and the EU won’t follow the U.S. into a war with China. Macron has tried but failed to get Biden to move the Ukraine War to the peace table. Macron told Biden that he can’t count on France or the EU to join his military effort to save Taiwan. Beyond Taiwan, Macron also warned Biden that he can’t push Ukraine to the breaking point without fallout from France and the EU.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
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