Call it the under-reported story of the year. But if you're in Taiwan, you'd be mighty nervous, given that the Chinese navy is surrounding your entire island -- just as a military exercise, of course. According to the Washington Post:
TAIPEI, Taiwan — China’s newest aircraft carrier has for the first time practiced attacking Taiwan from the island’s east coast, demonstrating Beijing’s growing determination to project power beyond the Taiwan Strait and far into the Pacific Ocean, an area traditionally dominated by the United States and its regional allies.
Chinese saber-rattling in the Taiwan Strait, which is just 80 miles wide at its narrowest point, has become commonplace as the Communist Party under Xi Jinping becomes increasingly vehement about its intent to take control of the self-governed democracy.
But the three days of military exercises around Taiwan that concluded on Monday marked a change: They focused on dominating the air and sea in the western Pacific by simulating a carrier-based strike from the far side of the island, rather than the usual approach from the Taiwan Strait that separates the island from China.
Which is disturbing, not only because it shows China's capabilities from the far side of the island but because unlike other military exercises, which theoretically at least, are defensive, this one can only be a dress rehearsal to an offensive attack on the island. Already, there's been plenty of rhetoric about that possibility coming from China...................No one's pricing in an invasion in the western markets -- with this kind of activity going on and China's obvious military superiority an emerging issue as Gen. Mark Milley worries about pronouns and his own white supremacy privilege in the U.S. military..................To Read More....
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