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:
- New Cold War? U.S., China defense chiefs square off in Singapore
- U.S. and Chinese military leaders squared off at a major security conference in Singapore: Beijing asserted that its forces are ready for war over Taiwan, while U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin chided China for its increasingly aggressive military actions in the region.
- Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu bluntly told the Shangri-La dialogue defense conference that Beijing seeks “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan, but will “make no promise to renounce the use of force” if necessary to make the island democracy part of China.
- “If anyone dares to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will not hesitate for a second,” he said. “We will fear no opponents and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity regardless of any cost.”
- Li’s comments came a day after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. military is stepping up plans, coordination and training to “deter aggression.”
- The competing remarks, in speeches at Shangri-La last weekend, underscored the depths of U.S.-China tensions. The strains were on display ahead of the security conference when Chinese jets engaged in a dangerous aerial intercept of a U.S. surveillance aircraft in the region last week.
- The intercept was followed by another incident this week, in which a Chinese warship sailed in front of a U.S. Navy destroyer during transit through the Taiwan Strait.
- White House spokesman John Kirby on Monday condemned the close call between the destroyer USS Chung Hoon and a Chinese destroyer. “We urge them to make better decisions about how they operate in international air space and sea space,” Mr. Kirby said, noting that the naval encounter and the aerial encounter were part of a growing level of aggressiveness by Beijing’s military.
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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:
- Chinese Defense Minister Threatens to Attack Taiwan ‘Without Any Hesitation’
- Chinese National Defense Minister Li Shangfu, making his debut on the international stage, told attendees at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Sunday that the communist nation’s military would attack “without any hesitation” against any allies of Taiwan seeking to support the nation’s independence from Beijing.
- Li spent most of his address at the event, an annual platform for the world’s most powerful military leaders to discuss the future of national defense, promoting the Communist Party’s “Global Security Initiative,” a proposal by genocidal dictator Xi Jinping discouraging countries from acting in the interest of their own defense and instead proposing undefined “win-win cooperation.”
- Li insisted China was a pioneer in world peace, repeatedly condemning the United States – without naming America – as a force for “hegemony” and “self-serving” clique-forming. Li also pressured America to no longer maintain a presence in the South China Sea, where China illegally claims territory belonging to Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, and regularly attacks non-Chinese ships legally present in their own domestic waters.
- Li claimed that American “freedom of navigation” exercises in the South China Sea, in which the U.S. Navy sails in international waters as a sign of rejection of China’s illegal claims, were in reality “hegemony of navigation” exercises and an attempt to “muddy the waters to rake in profits,” without elaborating. He urged neighbors to “firmly reject” freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea.
- Li then proceeded to address Taiwan, threatening to attack anyone who recognized Taiwan’s sovereignty.
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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:
- Chinese ‘scorpion’ combat drone circles Taiwan
- Taiwan’s defense ministry said it detected 38 Chinese aircraft, including a TB-001 drone nicknamed the “twin-tailed scorpion”, around the island between 6am Thursday and 6am Friday.
- The drone’s circling flight path took it across the median line — an unofficial boundary dividing the Taiwan Strait — to the island’s south before flying around its east coast and returning to China, a map released by the ministry
- Local media said it was the first time Taiwan’s defense ministry had reported a Chinese military aircraft circling the island from one end of the median line to the other.
- The TB-001 is one of the largest drones in China’s arsenal and boasts a flight range of 6,000 kilometers.
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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 Is Preparing For War; Is The US Ready?
- Both the United States and China are investing record-breaking sums in building up their military capabilities. Leadership on both sides increasingly appears to consider such a conflict as inevitable, despite rhetoric to the contrary.
- Xi has ordered the regime’s military wing to prepare for war, and to be ready to launch an invasion of Taiwan by 2027.
- Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.)… Russia’s ongoing conquest of Ukraine, and the United States’ failure to deter it, contain all the lessons necessary to prepare for what comes next in Taiwan.
- “If we don’t learn the right lessons from the failure of deterrence in Ukraine, authoritarian aggression and the CCP’s malign influence will spread to the Indo-Pacific, and our New Cold War with the Chinese Communist Party could quickly become hot,” Gallagher told The Epoch Times.
- “To prevent this, we have to act with a sense of urgency and do everything we can to deter a CCP invasion of Taiwan.” “If the Chinese Communist Party invaded Taiwan today, we would not be well positioned to defend our friend, our interests, or American values in the Indo-Pacific,” Gallagher says.
- The United States must choose, he believes, to arm Taiwan to the teeth now or come to Taiwan’s aid at a much greater cost later.
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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:
- ‘Get Ready’: Taiwan Civilians Train For Chinese Invasion
- The classes are part of a growing Taiwanese urgency to be ready for a worst-case scenario after seeing the Ukraine war from afar and enduring two rounds of Chinese drills in the past year, including exercises that ended last week.
- “When there’s the possibility of a war, I think we should get prepared,” said 45-year-old Lin, who was attending the Kuma Academy’s classes in Taipei.
- “Being on the frontline isn’t the only way to help,” she said, adding her eight- and 12-year-old children should know what to do in a crisis.
- Kuma’s instructors offer practical tips on evacuation preparations, such as finding the nearest air raid shelter and what to pack in emergency go-bags.
- The day-long classes, which cost 1,000 Taiwanese dollars (US$33), end with emergency medical training, such as how to apply tourniquets and stuff wounds with bandages.
- Kuma has trained 10,000 people since January 2022, with classes selling out in minutes after their release as Taiwan residents clamor for more knowledge on how to keep themselves safe.
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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:
- Taiwan responds to China’s unprecedented military activity as US destroyer makes moves
- Late Monday, the Taiwan Defense Ministry registered 91 fighter jets and 12 ships from the Chinese military within the space of 12 hours. This is a record-high number of Chinese military aircraft entering the airspace surrounding Taiwan in a single day.
- Of these, 54 aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s south-western and south-eastern airspace.
- After Tsai returned from California to Taipei, China launched three-day military exercises on Saturday. They included simulating several precision strikes on “key targets on the island of Taiwan and surrounding sea areas.”
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Revelations 18:9-11 “The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, 10 standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’
Important Takeaways:
- China cuts US Treasury holdings to lowest level since global financial crisis
- China continued to cut its holdings of US Treasuries at the beginning of the year amid rising long-term interest rates, which slashed its returns on its overseas investments after the US Federal Reserve accelerated its lending cost increases last year.
- As foreign holdings rose for a third straight month in January, China’s holdings slid to US$859.4 billion in January from US$867.1 billion in December, declining for the sixth straight month and marking their lowest point since May 2009, according to data released by the US Department of the Treasury on Wednesday.
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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:
- Chinese Army tightens its blockade drill on Taiwan with start of attack drills
- The Chinese military began conducting ”precision strike” exercises on ”key targets” in Taiwan on Sunday, the second day of a large-scale blockade drill it is conducting around the island.
- During the drills, multiple Chinese Army Navy destroyers and frigates ”rapidly approached the island of Taiwan, took advantageous positions and practiced close assaults, long-range deterrence and air defense,” Chinese state-run CCTV added.
- Early this morning, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry detected that at least 71 Chinese fighter jets and nine Chinese warships had approached the territory, and warned that 45 of the planes temporarily crossed the ”Davis line” that divides the strait and marks the beginning of its security zone; an extremely high number even for the usual incursions China has been carrying out during the last few months.
- This large-scale drill has been seen as a response to President Tsai Ing Wen’s meeting this week with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy, in what Beijing saw as an affront to its sovereignty claims over the territory.
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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:
- US-Philippines military exercise to be the largest ever amid rising tensions with China
- Roughly 12,000 U.S. troops, 5,400 Philippine personnel and over 100 Australian military members are set to participate in the annual Balikatan Exercise between the countries, far surpassing the 9,000 that participated in the event last year, according to reporting from the Navy Times Wednesday.
- The 17-day exercise, which is set to kick off on April 11, comes amid rising tensions with China in Asia, most recently after an announced deal struck between the Philippines and U.S. that gives the U.S. military access to four additional military installations in the country, a few of which will face the South China Sea.
- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said of the event, which was announced last month. “This is part of our effort to modernize our alliance, and these efforts are especially important as the People’s Republic of China continues to advance its illegitimate claims in the West Philippine Sea.”
- The announced plans also come after China vowed “strong and resolute measures” in response to a meeting between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California.
- We will take resolute measures to punish the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and their actions, and resolutely safeguard our country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement Thursday morning.
- McCarthy and a group of bipartisan lawmakers met with Tsai Wednesday, with McCarthy vowing “unwavering” support for Taiwan.
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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 warns McCarthy not to meet Taiwan’s president in L.A., threatens retaliation
- China on Wednesday threatened “resolute countermeasures” over a planned meeting between U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen during her upcoming stop in Los Angeles on an international trip.
- Earlier this month, Honduras established diplomatic relations with China, leaving Taiwan with only 13 countries that recognize it as a sovereign state.
- [Tsai Ing–wen] left Taiwan on Wednesday afternoon, Tsai framed her 10-day tour of the Americas as a chance to show Taiwan’s commitment to democratic values on the world stage.
- Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, denounced Tsai’s U.S. stopover on her way to visiting diplomatic allies in Central America and demanded that no U.S. officials meet with her.
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