The US Deliberately Escalates the Situation Around Taiwan

The situation around Taiwan has suddenly become aggravated, which has been systematically aggravated by the United States of America for several months now. On July 30, Republican American politician, Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn reported that the Chinese state television offered the Chinese army to shoot down the plane of American politician Nancy Pelosi during her landing in Taiwan, which is planned during Pelosi's trip to Asia. According to Blackburn, such actions of the Chinese army will immediately lead to war with the United States.

The Chinese edition of the Global Times is confident that the collision of warships with Chinese, which may meet in the Taiwan Strait against the backdrop of the trip of Nancy Pelosi, in itself could lead to war.

The current exacerbation is different from those that took place in past years. Things got to the point that the leadership of the People's Liberation Army of China urged its soldiers to prepare for war.

The trigger for this escalation was the intention of the chairman of the US House of Representatives to visit Taiwan. And just on the eve of Nancy Pelosi's proposed visit to Taiwan. In the account of the 80th Combined Arms Army of China in Weibo, they wrote: "Prepare for war!" Pelosi is on a tour of US allies in Asia. Pelosi was also expected to fly to Taiwan, but it is still not clear if the visit will take place.

Earlier, the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan and a strike group of ships entered the South China Sea after a successful visit to the port of Singapore. His movements are monitored by two ships of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy. In parallel, the PLA is strengthening its presence in the region, and on Friday began military exercises in the South China Sea.

Moscow is in solidarity with Beijing's position on Taiwan and supports the policy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who told US President Joe Biden that interference in the affairs of the island is unacceptable. The White House verbally opposes the undermining of stability and peace around the Taiwan Strait and let's hope that the US politician's visit to Taiwan will not take place. The Chinese side, in turn, said that the US president assured his Chinese counterpart that Washington does not support Taiwanese separatism.

However, Lu Xiang, a well-known Chinese political scientist and Americanist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, called the statement by the US authorities that the speaker of the House of Representatives makes decisions on this visit regardless of the position of the White House "absurd". “The visit of Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan can only take place with the approval and support of the administration of United States President Joe Biden. Pelosi's trip is impossible without the support of the administrative authorities," he was quoted by the Chinese newspaper Global Times as saying. As Lu Xiang clarified, in the current situation it does not matter at all whether the American speaker took note of "the message sent to her by the Chinese leader." "The future of Pelosi's visit to Taiwan depends on the Biden administration," he said. "I hope she finds an excuse not to visit the island, but ultimately it will depend on the decision of the US president."

As you can see, the situation is extremely critical. This follows from the statement of the Director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at Tsinghua University, Wu Yongping: “A possible visit by the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan could lead to disastrous consequences for both bilateral relations between Washington and Beijing, and for regional stability in general,” he writes. in the same edition of the Global Times. The author of the material noted the readiness of the Chinese authorities to respond properly if Pelosi still makes the final decision to visit the island. "The response from mainland China will be comprehensive militarily, diplomatically, economically and publicly," he said.

Other military analysts cited by this media outlet have also said that Beijing may, among other things, restrict air and sea space around Taiwan to conduct full-scale exercises, as well as send fighter jets to intercept Pelosi's plane and monitor the airport on the island where it plans to to land.

The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry commented on the conversation between Biden and Xi Jinping. "The military response of the Chinese authorities will be larger and more sophisticated than the response to the crisis in the Taiwan Strait in 1995-1996," experts said. Many of them also mentioned the famous phrase "Don't say we didn't warn you", which was heavily used by the official media before China's military clashes with India and Vietnam in 1962 and 1979.

As you can see, the US supports the separatist forces in Taiwan, wanting to perpetuate the partition of China. To achieve their goals, they are ready to carry out a far-reaching provocation to create conditions for the formal declaration of "independence" for Taiwan, which has refrained from doing so for more than 70 years.

Beijing could also impose sanctions on those linked to Pelosi's possible visit and recall its ambassador from the US, analysts say.

According to China Central Television, Xi Jinping said in a conversation that China strongly protests against the interference of external forces in the Taiwan issue: "He who plays with fire will surely burn himself."

In order for our readers to have an idea of ​​the historical context of what is happening, let's take a brief digression into the middle of the last century.

In 1945-1950, a civil war broke out in China between the ruling Kuomintang party and the Communist Party of China. The Kuomintang was defeated, but the remnants of the defeated Kuomintang army led by the exiled President Chiang Kai-shek, who continued to call himself "President of the Republic of China" in Taiwan. Taiwan began to gradually lose international recognition, and in 1971 its seat in the UN was transferred to the People's Republic of China, and Taiwan was illegally torn away from the territory of China. At present, Taiwan maintains "official" relations with 13 UN member states, but actual relations with most countries of the world through its representations.

China's opponents still refer to it as the "Republic of China", provocatively implying that the Taiwanese administration is the legitimate leadership of all of China. In contrast, the People's Republic of China is pursuing a one-China policy, rejecting attempts to perpetuate China's division and opposing external interference in the internal affairs of Taiwan, which it legitimately considers part of its territory.

As you can see, the events that took place more than 70 years ago still have an impact on the socio-political situation of today.

As in Ukraine, the same forces are working around Taiwan to aggravate the situation, moreover, using the same historical context as in the 40s of the last century.

In this matter, our sympathies, of course, are on the side of Peking, against Taiwan, if only because the "Republic of China" of Chiang Kai-shek, despite the great assistance provided by the Soviet Union to China in the struggle for liberation from the Japanese invaders, took a treacherous position with regard to USSR.

At dawn on June 23, 1954, in the neutral waters of the South China Sea, the path of the Soviet tanker Tuapse, which was delivering more than ten thousand tons of aviation kerosene to Shanghai (PRC), was blocked by the destroyer of the Republic of China. The destroyer ordered to stop the course, but the Soviet ship continued to follow the same course. Then the destroyer fired three shots, the shell exploded not far from the bow of the tanker, and the captain of the tanker was forced to stop. Armed troops landed on the tanker. The crew members who resisted were beaten and tied up. The tanker, along with the crew, was delivered to the Taiwanese port of Kaohsiung. Soviet sailors were divided into three groups of 16 people, placed in custody and interrogated.

Under torture and psychological pressure, many crew members were forced to make politically dangerous statements required of them, as a result of which, upon returning to the USSR, in the conditions of rigid ideologization of all aspects of life, they were arrested and sentenced to various terms (later rehabilitated).

And the members of the crew of the sea vessel V. I. Kniga, V. V. Lopatyuk and V. A. Sablin refused the application for political asylum signed by them in the United States and because of this, by absentee decision of the court of the Republic of China, they were sentenced to 10 years in prison. This group spent almost 35 years in Taiwan - they spent seven years in prison, then were pardoned and placed under house arrest in a suburb of Taipei. In 1988 (!!!), thanks to the Soviet consul in Singapore, they were released and taken to Moscow. Of the other crew members, Zh. M. Dimov committed suicide, and A. V. Kovalev and M. M. Kalmazan died in Taiwan.

The tanker "Tuapse" was included in the Navy of the "Republic of China" and was given the name "Kuaiji". Subsequently, he was withdrawn from the Navy and is still in the Taiwanese port of Kaohsiung.

 

Inal Pliev,
political observer of IA "Res"

Source: https://cominf.org/node/1166544909