“China is becoming more aggressive and ready to confront it. Sooner or later someone is going to get hurt.”

Taiwan. The tension is growing. “Unfortunately, China is becoming increasingly aggressive, especially in the Taiwan Strait,” said the National Security Council spokesperson. John Kirby, in a press briefing. He added, “We are ready to confront them. Sooner or later someone is going to get hurt.”

China and the United States, tension in the Taiwan Strait: a near collision between two warships

Tensions between the United States and China over Taiwan

Taiwan “is the fulcrum of China’s core interests” and its secessionist activities “will further stimulate our countermeasures,” because reunification “will take place.” Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu had warned yesterday of Beijing’s priorities, and continued not to rule out the use of “force” for Taipei, which is an integral part of the People’s Republic of China, and warned that the hypothesis of war with the United States would be an “unsustainable catastrophe” for the whole world. .

In his speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, the first for an international event since his appointment as prime minister in March, Lee remarked that he would “not hesitate” to respond “if Taiwan independence and sovereignty are pursued at any cost. Taiwan is the first red line for relations with the United States.” United States, and has never been lower in recent decades, even at the risk of incidents such as a near collision on Saturday by the aggressive action of a Chinese contingent against an American destroyer, en route with a Canadian frigate in the Taiwan Strait.

Commenting on the South China Sea, Li said, “China has no problem with freedom of navigation and innocent passage,” but ships and combat aircraft are not approaching for innocent passage but rather “as a provocation, an excuse to exercise hegemony over navigation.” the incident. The minister, No. 4 in the Chinese military hierarchy of which President Xi Jinping was Commander-in-Chief, accused the United States and its allies of creating danger, when instead they should “take care of their airspace and territorial waters”. The point is that Saturday’s warning from the PLA ship to US and Canadian ships was based on entering “Chinese territory,” in waters recognized instead as international. The fear is that Beijing may have started a new narrative around the waters of the Taiwan Strait with very unreassuring scenarios.

Pentagon concerns

The Pentagon had earlier expressed concern about the aggressive moves of the Chinese army in Asia. Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder responded from Singapore by saying, “We remain concerned about the PLA’s increasingly dangerous and coercive activities in the region, even in recent days.” While Australian Defense Minister Richard Marless went further, stating that he was “obsessed” with the fact that Russia’s war on Ukraine is “the beginning of the next competition” in the Indo-Pacific: his speech matured the day after the bilateral agreement with Lee. Meanwhile, senior officials from about twenty of the world’s leading intelligence agencies, in Singapore, held a secret meeting on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue. The United States was represented by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines. China was also among the countries present, despite tensions between the two superpowers and a bilateral agreement that Lee rejected his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin.

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