As of Thursday morning, Taiwan has reported that the military of Communist China has fired off a number of Dongfeng series ballistic missiles out into the waters to the northeast and southwest of the island nation.
BREAKING: @MoNDefense just confirmed that PLA fired several DF ballistic missiles into Taiwan’s northeast and southwest waters starting from 13:46 local time. In response, the ministry has launched defence systems and condemns irrational actions which undermine regional peace.
— Tingting Liu 劉亭廷 (@tingtingliuTVBS) August 4, 2022
Various other reports stated that the Taiwanese government stated that Communist China shot off two missiles from the close by Matsu Islands.
BREAKING – TAIWAN SPOTTED TWO MISSILES LAUNCHED BY CHINA NEAR OUTLYING ISLANDS OF MATSU AT AROUND 2 P.M. LOCAL TIME – INTERNAL GOV REPORT
— Yimou Lee (@YimouLee) August 4, 2022
Additional reports stated that a group of about 10 Chinese navy ships traveled out to cross the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
#TAIWAN SOURCE BRIEFED ON THE MATTER: ABOUT 10 CHINESE NAVY SHIPS TEMPORARILY CROSSED TAIWAN STRAIT MEDIAN LINE AND REMAIN CLOSE IN THE AREA FROM WED NIGHT TO THUR MIDDAY
— Yimou Lee (@YimouLee) August 4, 2022
All the while, President Joe Biden and his administration have reportedly been standing against a new bill that would aid Taiwan by labeling it a major non-NATO ally, as reported by a group of people familiar with the issue. The bill would hand over $4.5 billion in aid money for security and a promise to support the small nation’s presence throughout international organizations.
Despite the fact that one of the sponsors of this new bill is New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) expressed, “The White House has significant concerns. … I have significant concerns,” as reported by Bloomberg. Murphy officially confirmed the Foreign Relations panel is forcibly stalling out the bill; it was originally slated to go up for vote this past Wednesday.
One of the co-sponsors of the bill, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), stated, “It’s a miscalculation of how to keep the world in order. At every turn they take the weakest path.”
“If you put this on the floor of the Senate it would pass overwhelmingly,” he went on.
Directly prior to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip out to Taiwan this week, the foreign ministry of China put out its protest towards the United States, threatening that any visit “seriously infringes upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The defense ministry of China claimed it would carry out “targeted military operations,” read a report from France 24, continued, “The Chinese military announced joint air and sea drills near Taiwan starting on Tuesday night and test launch of conventional missiles in the sea east of Taiwan, with Chinese state news agency Xinhua describing live-fire drills and other exercises around Taiwan from Thursday to Sunday.”
Thursday of last week, as exclaimed by the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Chinese leader Xi Jinping issued threats against the U.S. via a conversation with President Joe Biden concerning the ties between America and Taiwan. “Those who play with fire will perish by it. It is hoped that the U.S. will be clear-eyed about this,” threatened Xi via a statement from China.
As of this past Tuesday, Max Baucus, the former U.S. ambassador to china for former President Barack Obama, stated to CNN, “Poor Joe Biden. He looks weak because he either told her [Pelosi] not to go and it looks weak to the Chinese guys or he’s weak because he told her not to go and she went anyway. And that makes us look a little bit weak to the Chinese.”
“I got to tell you, during the time I was serving in Beijing, one thing I really learned: Chinese understand strength better than do people in any other country, and they could smell weakness 100 miles away,” he went on. “We’ve got to be strong but strong in the best sense.”