Where to really begin with this...but after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many commentators have felt Xi Jinping will feel emboldened to take over Taiwan in a similar way. In response, Chinese-US relations are at all-time hostilities; US has strengthened its relationship with Japan and announced something like an Asian NATO alliance.
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Japan and the United States plan to pool their economic clout to prevent China from converting its enormous resources into strategic victories.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and their Japanese counterparts stopped short of invoking the “economic NATO” concept that some U.S. lawmakers and allies have proposed. Still, they agreed that “the coercive and retaliatory economic practices of the People’s Republic of China,” as Blinken put it, warrant a concerted and preparatory response.
“For Japan and [the] U.S. to effectively respond to the unfair and opaque use of economic influence, it is necessary to think about diplomacy, security, and economy as a unit,” Japan's foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, told reporters at the State Department. “In particular, since the United States and Japan are No. 1 and 2 democratic economies in the world, it would be beneficial for us to discuss strategically about the policies to be implemented in such [a] situation.”
The meeting Friday fell under the anodyne heading of the the U.S.-Japan Economic Policy Consultative Committee, a new format for the quartet of diplomatic and economic policymakers to coordinate their efforts to “make our economies more competitive and resilient.” Hayashi emphasized that they “are not pursuing protectionism or bloc economy,” but the joint statement released after the gathering made clear that the initiative is at least in part intended as a means to compete for global influence.
BLINKEN ACKNOWLEDGES ‘PROSPECT FOR CONFLICT’ WITH CHINA OVER TAIWAN
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In response to the prospective tensions over Taiwan, Nacy Pelosi is set to visit the island. In response, China has gone ballistic and repeatedly made grave threats for her to not go through with it after talks with Joe Biden (over Taiwan) epically soured.
A leading propagandist for the Chinese government warned that China's military could attack the plane carrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi if it's escorted by US fighter planes on a much-speculated stopover in Taiwan in her upcoming visit to Asia.
Pelosi departed on Friday for a tour that could include a controversial stop in Taiwan, the self-governed island democracy at the heart of rising tensions between Beijing and Washington.
In a now-banned tweet, Hu Xijin, a commentator with the Chinese-state-owned Global Times, wrote, "If US fighter jets escort Pelosi's plane into Taiwan, it is [an] invasion. The [People's Liberation Army] has the right to forcibly dispel Pelosi's plane and the US fighter jets, including firing warning shots and making tactical movement of obstruction."
"If ineffective, then shoot them down," Hu added, per the New York Post.
The possibility of a visit to the island by Pelosi has triggered heated rhetoric and warnings from Beijing. Reports indicate the Pentagon is planning to call upon US warplanes and ships to provide additional security near Taiwan if a visit goes ahead.
Top military experts on China have warned that a visit to Taiwan by Pelosi could heighten the risk of an "accident" that could spark a military crisis in the region.
"There's a risk of an accident, not a risk of an imminent Chinese attack on Taiwan," Bonnie Glaser, a leading China expert and director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, told Insider.
Should she visit the island, approximately 100 miles from China's southeast coast, Pelosi would become the highest-ranking US lawmaker in over two decades to visit Taiwan.