As President Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping ostensibly agree to abide by the Taiwan agreement, the Chinese Communist Party is warning that the …
As President Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping ostensibly agree to abide by the Taiwan agreement, the Chinese Communist Party is warning that the militaries currently swarming Taiwan are “teetering on the edge of a face-off.” Tensions are ratcheting up as China’s People’s Liberation Army planes violated Taiwan’s airspace 149 times over the past week — setting a record — including 56 flights on Monday, and the US has stepped up naval operations with allies in the South China Sea, a challenge to Beijing’s territorial claims over the waterway. The State Department called the flights “risky” and “destabilizing ” on Sunday and urged China, which believes the island is a rogue province and part of its territory, to stop its “provocative military activity.” Taiwan’s Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said Wednesday the situation “is the most severe in the 40 years since I’ve enlisted” and predicted China will be able to mount an invasion in four years. “By 2025, China will bring the cost and attrition to its lowest. It has the capacity now, but it will not start a war easily, having to take many other things into consideration,” he said. But Biden insisted to reporters on Tuesday that he and Xi have agreed to comply with the Taiwan agreement. “ We agree we will abide by the Taiwan agreement. That’s where we are. And we made it clear that I don’t think he should be doing anything other than abiding by the agreement, ” the president said when asked about Chinese-Taiwanese relations.
