Important Takeaways:
- Xi vows to prevent anyone ‘splitting Taiwan from China’
- President Xi Jinping vowed on Tuesday to resolutely prevent anyone from “splitting Taiwan from China in any way”, the official Xinhua news agency reported, a little more than two weeks before Taiwan elects a new leader.
- China views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, despite the strong objections of the government in Taipei, and has ramped up military and political pressure to assert its sovereignty claims.
- Taiwan holds presidential and parliamentary elections on Jan. 13 and how the island handles relations with China is a major point of contention on the campaign trail.
- Xi said “the complete reunification of the motherland is an irresistible trend”.
- “The motherland must be reunified, and inevitably will be reunified,” Xinhua cited Xi as telling senior officials from the Communist Party.
- China says the Taiwan election is an internal Chinese affair but that the island’s people face a choice between war and peace and any attempt at Taiwan independence means war.
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Important Takeaways:
- US-China Summit Turns Sour as Biden Calls Xi ‘Dictator’, China Vows to Take Over Taiwan
- The summit began with the two leaders taking a much friendlier tone after months of rising tensions, with President Biden sounding optimistic.
- They agreed on a new push to crack down on the export of the deadly drug fentanyl from China to the US.
- President Xi Jinping said China is ready to be a partner and friend of the United States.
- China could use a friend. Foreign businesses and capital have been fleeing China at a record pace.
- The two leaders also agreed to resume military-to-military communications, after they were cut off last year following then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan.
- Things got hotter when a reporter asked the president if he would still refer to Xi as a “dictator.”
- Biden answered, “Well, look, he is, in that he’s a dictator who runs a country that is a communist country that’s based on a form of government that is completely different from ours.”
- The Chinese government responded swiftly and forcefully calling the “dictator” label “extremely wrong” and vowing China would be “unstoppable” in eventually retaking Taiwan, something President Biden has vowed to stand against.
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Important Takeaways:
- Time for US to counter the bully at 30,000 feet
- To protect the lives of U.S. service personnel and reaffirm their right to operate in international airspace, President Biden must confront President Xi on this issue during their tête-à-tête Wednesday on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in San Francisco.
- These incidents are not isolated high jinks by maverick Chinese pilots. Far from it. The People’s Liberation Army operates under the tight leash of the Chinese Communist Party. This behavior is part of a larger political-military effort to intimidate the United States and its allies from operating in the Western Pacific.
- Late last month, a Chinese jet fighter buzzed within 10 feet of one of our B-52 bombers flying in international airspace over the South China Seas.
- This is not the first time the Pentagon has publicly raised the issue of unsafe Chinese aerial behavior. On June 2, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin gave a major speech in Singapore, noting that China “continues to conduct an alarming number of risky intercepts of U.S. and allied aircraft flying lawfully in international airspace.”
- China’s bad behavior continues, so the secretary’s point evidently fell upon deaf ears. PLA buzzing continues against not only the United States, but its close allies as well. Two weeks ago, Chinese fighters fired flares right in the path of a Canadian helicopter operating in the South China Sea, forcing it to take evasive action.
- Just last week, Chinese Coast Guard ships fired water cannons at Philippine Coast Guard vessels in the Spratley Islands, the latest of many coercive activities aimed at Manila. In fact, all this bullying continues even though China signed a detailed agreement with the U.S., way back in 2014, to avoid unsafe intercepts in the air and at sea.
- If sweet reason and stern words fail to sway, the Biden administration should authorize F-35 fighter escorts of its unarmed reconnaissance planes until China gets the message – and backs off.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Benjamin Netanyahu announces China invite as Biden keeps him at arm’s length
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed Tuesday he has been invited to China before receiving a similar honor from the Biden White House.
- The prime minister’s office tweeted that Netanyahu had informed visiting members of Congress about the invitation.
- “The projected visit will be Prime Minister Netanyahu’s fourth visit to China; the American administration was updated one month ago,” Netanyahu’s office added, without indicating whether the 73-year-old had accepted the invite or when the trip would take place.
- Netanyahu began his third term as prime minister of America’s staunchest Middle Eastern ally in December, but he has yet to be invited to visit Washington by President Biden.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- China’s Xi Jinping backs ‘just cause’ of Palestinian statehood
- President Xi Jinping says China backs the Palestinian struggle for statehood as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas arrived for a three-day visit.
- The Palestinian leader was welcomed with full military honors at the Great Hall of the People on Wednesday in Beijing.
- “We are good friends and partners,” Xi told Abbas at the start of their meeting. “We have always firmly supported the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights.”
- Xi made the comments as China stakes out a greater role in the Middle East to edge out the United States’ influence there while seeking to facilitate Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Blinken ruffles feathers by stating US ‘does not support Taiwan independence’ after meeting China’s Xi
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised eyebrows Monday, telling reporters the US “does not support Taiwan independence” after meeting in Beijing with officials including Chinese President Xi Jinping.
- Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said on Twitter. “Why won’t this administration stand up to bullies and stand for freedom?”
- The Taiwan issue is among the most contentious in the US-China relationship, with Xi making it his No. 1 priority to “reunite” Taiwan with China — though the island about 100 miles off the country’s southeastern coast has never actually been part of it.
- Ben Cline (R-Va.) tweeted that Blinken’s statement was a “dangerous display of weakness towards our adversaries on the world stage.”
- “The Biden admin is giving China a green light to increase its intimidation of our ally, Taiwan,” he said.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Blinken Meets Xi as China Warns U.S. Must Choose Between ‘Cooperation or Conflict’
- News of the diplomatic head-to-head came after China told the U.S. earlier in the day it must choose between “cooperation or conflict” with Beijing as both countries seek to navigate a diplomatic way forward amid fraught relations between the world’s two largest economies.
- The pair spoke for three hours on Monday at the ornate state guesthouse in the ancient Diaoyutai gardens, according to a State Department official cited by AFP.
- “The Secretary of State’s trip to Beijing this time comes at a critical juncture in China-U.S. relations,” Wang told Blinken, according to a readout from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
- He also issued a warning on Taiwan, the self-ruling democracy claimed and continually threatened by Beijing, while reasserting the Communist dictatorship’s longstanding claim to vast swathes of the South China Sea.
- “On this issue, China has no room to compromise or concede,” Wang told Blinken, according to CCTV.
- “The United States must truly adhere to the One China principle confirmed in the three joint U.S.-China communiques, respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and clearly oppose ‘Taiwan independence’.”
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- China will work to mediate peace, Xi tells Zelensky in first call since war
- Ukrainian officials have long been calling on Beijing to use its influence in Russia to help end the war.
- Describing the phone call as “long and meaningful,” Zelenskiy tweeted: “I believe that this call, as well as the appointment of Ukraine’s ambassador to China, will give a powerful impetus to the development of our bilateral relations.”
- Xi told Zelensky that China would send special representatives to Ukraine and hold talks with all parties seeking peace, Chinese state media reported.
- China says it is positioned to help mediate the conflict because it has not taken sides.
- Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a “no limits” partnership agreement weeks before Putin ordered the invasion.
- Western countries say China’s 12-point peace proposal is too vague, offers no concrete path out of the war, and could be used by Putin to promote a truce that would leave his forces in control of occupied territory while they regroup.
- Earlier this week, European countries raised alarm after China’s ambassador to France said states such as Ukraine that won independence with the break-up of the Soviet Union “don’t have actual status in international law.”
- Beijing said its position on the independence of ex-Soviet states was unchanged.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- When Macron met Xi: Welcome to the New World disorder
- China’s leader is gathering autocratic regimes to his banner, Europe and the US are divided over how to respond, and the French president just lobbed a grenade onto the field of international diplomacy
- In 2019, he famously declared that Nato was experiencing “brain death”.
- In 2021-22, he took it upon himself to mediate, ostensibly on Europe’s behalf, with Vladimir Putin over Ukraine. Even after Putin ignored him and invaded, Macron insisted Moscow should be offered “security guarantees” and that Russia not be “humiliated”.
- At home, Macron has caused uproar in recent months by pushing through controversial pension reforms opposed by two-thirds of the population. The row has contributed to a plunging personal approval rating, down to 30% this month. Facing a confidence vote in March, his government survived by bypassing parliament. The reforms are under legal challenge, while violent nationwide protests are continuing. Yet insouciant Macron seems almost oblivious at times.
- The latest explosion was ignited by an interview Macron gave after a visit last weekend to Beijing…On China policy, European countries were too subservient to the US and should not be Washington’s “followers”… Macron also implied that defending democratic Taiwan from a Ukraine-type Chinese invasion was not Europe’s business.
- China, on the other hand, just loves Macron’s ideas about rescuing Europe from America’s smothering embrace. His comments were wildly applauded in state-controlled media
- If a European consensus view on China actually exists, it was possibly best expressed by Von der Leyen in a speech last month. China, she said, had become “more repressive at home and more assertive abroad,” and Europe must be bolder in response.
- EU countries should use economic measures such as screening of foreign subsidies and restrictions on sensitive technology transfers to rebalance relations with Beijing
- “China is a fascinating and complex mix of history, progress and challenges. And it will define this century,” she said. But her message to Beijing was unapologetic and – Macron please note – unbending. The tried-and-tested democratic international order, based on shared principles and values, could and would prevail.
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William Penn – “If we are not governed by God, then we will be Governed by a tyrant”
Important Takeaways:
- Xi Jinping says China ready to ‘stand guard over world order’ on Moscow visit
- Chinese leader expected to position himself as peacemaker but US condemns Xi for providing ‘diplomatic cover’ for atrocities in Ukraine
- Xi Jinping said China was ready with Russia “to stand guard over the world order based on international law” as he arrived for a state visit to Moscow that comes days after Vladimir Putin was made the subject of an arrest warrant by the international criminal court.
- “We have thoroughly studied your proposals on regulating the acute crisis in Ukraine. Of course, we will have an opportunity to discuss them,” Putin told Xi, referring to China’s peace plan for dealing with the war in Ukraine. “We are always open to negotiations,” the Russian leader added.
- In a further symbolic gesture of defiance, Russia’s investigative committee said on Monday that it had opened a criminal case against the ICC prosecutor and judges who issued the warrant.
- the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called on the ICC to avoid “politicization and double standards”.
- The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Monday morning that the leaders would discuss the peace plan “one way or another”.
- “The topics that figured in this plan will inevitably be touched upon during the exchange of views on Ukraine” between Putin and Xi, Peskov said. “Exhaustive clarifications will be given by President Putin, so that President Xi can get a first-hand view of the current moment from the Russian side,” he added.
- Kyiv reiterated its official position that any talks would be contingent on the complete restoration of Ukraine’s territory. “The formula for the successful implementation of China’s ‘Peace Plan’. The first and main point is the capitulation or withdrawal of the Russian occupation troops,” Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defense council, tweeted on Monday.
- Xi is reported to be planning a call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, after his trip to Moscow.
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