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Biden Regime Playing with Fire Over Taiwan and South China Sea

Written by Subject: United States

Biden Regime Playing with Fire Over Taiwan and South China Sea

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

On all things China, Biden regime hardliners continue US hostility initiated by Trump and Pompeo.

Pursuing a similar policy toward Russia, they risk turning things hot by accident or design.

Their unacceptable actions are further proof of the unparalleled menace posed by the US on the world stage.

If global war again erupts, it'll be made in the USA.

Days before unelected Biden replaced Trump, Pompeo recklessly lifted what he called US "self-imposed restrictions" on Washington's one China policy, adding:

Washington "consider(s) all contact guidelines (on its relations with Taiwan) null and void."

The Trump regime's unilateral breach of what stood the test of time since 1979 was replaced by virtual recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state.

At the time, China's Foreign Ministry denounced the unacceptable move, saying:

"The actions of the US side seriously violate the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques. China firmly opposes it."

"There is only one China in the world." 

"Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory, and the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing China." 

"This is a fact recognized by the international community."

"China firmly opposes any form of official ties between the United States and the Taiwan region." 

"This position is consistent and clear."

Biden regime hardliners are pursuing the same anti-China policies — perhaps intending to escalate them.

In 1979, the US Taiwan Relations Act terminated its ties to Taiwan's ruling authorities.

Hostile US actions continued since Biden replaced Trump ups the stakes for possible direct confrontation.

Beijing knows that US ruling authorities can never be trusted to stick with their commitments.

If confrontation occurs between China and Taiwan — and Washington intervenes militarily to aid the breakaway province — the risk of war between both countries will be ominously high.

US provocations heighten what's unthinkable.

Last week in response to a Pentagon spy plane's two-hour long surveillance of territory where the Taiwan Strait meets the South China Sea, PLA and Taiwanese warplanes patrolled the same area.

Last Wednesday, the USS guided-missile destroyer John S. McCain provocatively sailed through Taiwan Strait waters.

Last Monday, the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group entered the South China Sea in saber-rattling fashion.

China's Foreign Ministry called the unacceptable intrusion "provo(cative) (to) stir up trouble," adding:

Beijing "won't be found lacking in either will or capacity to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Provocative US actions like the above occur with disturbing regularity.

They have nothing to do with what the Pentagon calls freedom of navigation — everything to do with provocatively operating in a part of the world where its military doesn't belong.

Taiwan reportedly divides airspace around the breakaway province into surveillance, warning and destruction zones. 

It's unclear if it treats waters near its territory by a similar standard.

Attacking PLA warplanes or vessels would be a major provocation, risking harsh retaliation.

Separately last week, the Biden regime's Commerce Department added seven Chinese supercomputing companies to its entity list — barring them from purchasing US technology with Washington's permission.

The list includes "businesses, research institutions, government and private organizations, individuals, and other types of legal persons — that are subject to specific license requirements for the export, reexport and/or transfer (in-country) of specified items."

According to Biden's Commerce Department, targeted Chinese firms are "involved with building supercomputers used by China's military actors, its destabilizing military modernization efforts, and/or weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs (sic)."

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo added that the "department…will use the full extent of its authorities to prevent China from leveraging US technologies to support these destabilizing military modernization efforts (sic)."

Beijing responded saying it'll "take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises."

Heightened Sino/US tensions risk eventual confrontation.

Last year, former US diplomat Charles Freeman said unacceptable US actions toward Beijing "ensure(d) that virtually no one on the China mainland believes a purely peaceful resolution is still feasible," adding:

"It's been a long time since the danger of war over Taiwan has been as great as it is now."

VISIT MY WEBSITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

My two Wall Street books are timely reading:

"How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion, and Class War"

https://www.claritypress.com/product/how-wall-street-fleeces-america/

"Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity"

https://www.claritypress.com/product/banker-occupation-waging-financial-war-on-humanity/

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