Admiral Michael Gilday, who heads US naval operations, recently raised eyebrows with comments at an Atlantic Council event suggesting that China’s timeline for an invasion of Taiwan could be shorter than the 2027 window previously suggested by now-retired Admiral Philip Davidson, who made comments suggesting that China might try to invade Taiwan in the next six years last year...
The recent online webinar organized by Friends of Socialist China, “China encirclement and the imperialist build-up in the Pacific” proved another occasion for tankies to speak in hyperbolic terms about the possibility of US-China conflict over Taiwan. As usual, there was scarcely any concern about what Taiwanese think about their own future, or even what their assessment of any geopolitical threats they face from China is–and whether they think a conflict is imminent. On the other hand, speakers generally seemed to care more about ancient Chinese history than they did about the perspectives of contemporary Taiwanese. And, for the most part, there was actually very little discussion of Taiwan during the event...
One wonders when Jacobin will eventually get any Taiwanese voice to write–or even comment–on the possibility of conflict between the US and China that engulfs Taiwan. Their latest proves another article by Branko Marcetic, who is apparently the leftist magazine’s go-to-writer on Taiwan...
The Taiwan Policy Act cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week. This clears the way for the bill to be discussed and voted upon by the US House of Representatives and Senate, with some warnings that China may take a strong response to the bill. The bill passed the committee by a vote of 17 to 5, with bipartisan support...
Earlier today, US president Joe Biden confused again with comments on CBS’ “60 Minutes” that suggested US commitment to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack. Subsequently, as with previous such incidents in which Biden indicated US commitment to defend Taiwan, these comments were quickly walked back by the White House, which stated that US policy on Taiwan had not changed...
Following US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, tensions in the region seem set to escalate. Although in a recent Pentagon briefing, US government spokespersons claimed that they had anticipated China’s moves, China’s actions still came as a surprise...
American leftist magazine Jacobin continues to plumb the depths of bad writing on Taiwan that does not bother to consult Taiwanese voices about their own future, with a recent article by Chicago-based writer Branko Marcetic. Instead of anything like, say, speaking to Taiwanese to see what they think of the odds of conflict with China are, what one instead sees is the usual insularity of western leftists who are more concerned with projecting the specter of American empire onto the non-western world to self-flagellate about themselves rather than finding pragmatic solutions to avoid conflict...
It remains opaque as to whether military drilling by China around Taiwan will continue in the coming days. Namely, although the People’s Liberation Army initially announced that its four days of live-fire drills would end on Sunday, yesterday it announced that military exercises in the area would continue. The drills are an escalation for the Chinese military, seeing as they take place closer to Taiwan than took place during the Third Taiwan Straits Crisis...
Today was the first day of live-fire drills conducted by the People’s Liberation Army in maritime areas around Taiwan. The drills are as close as 20 kilometers to metropolises such as Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s major southern port city, and are nine kilometers away from the island of Little Liuqiu. Another zone was added by the Maritime and Port Bureau for ships to avoid during the drilling, which is to last until Sunday, bringing the number of such zones to 7...
