Tag: international relations

China threatens Taiwan with more trade measures after denouncing president’s speech

Posted on by Lone Candle

“China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, detests Lai as a “separatist”. Lai and his government reject Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
On Thursday at his keynote national day speech, Lai said the People’s Republic of China had no right to represent Taiwan, but that the island was willing to work with Beijing to combat challenges like climate change, striking both a firm and conciliatory tone, drawing anger from China.

The Saturday announcement from China’s commerce ministry could portend tariffs or other forms of economic pressure against the island in the near future.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, which on Thursday said that Lai’s speech promoted “separatist ideas” and incited confrontation, responded to the announcement by saying the fundamental reason behind the trade dispute was the “DPP authorities’ stubborn adherence to the stance of ‘Taiwan independence'”.

“The political basis makes it difficult for cross-Strait trade disputes to be resolved through negotiation,” it added.

In May, China reinstated tariffs on 134 items it imports from Taiwan, after Beijing’s finance ministry said it would suspend concessions on the items under a trade deal because Taiwan had not reciprocated.

The Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between China and Taiwan was initially signed in 2010 and Taiwanese officials had previously told Reuters that China was likely to pressure Lai by ending some of the preferential trading terms within it.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-threatens-taiwan-more-trade-075316245.html

The US Navy is burning through missiles in the Middle East that it would need in a war with China

Posted on by Lone Candle

“US Navy warships have twice been called upon to defend Israel from massive Iranian ballistic missile attacks and have used SM-3 interceptors to defeat the incoming threats.
The Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), a key air-defense interceptor made by RTX and, for some variants, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, was first used in combat in April to shield Israel from an unprecedented attack, and then it saw combat again in October when Iran attacked a second time. The weapons, which can cost between $10 million and almost $30 million depending on the variant, were fired by American destroyers in the area.

Navy leadership has said that it needs many more SM-3s to counter threats in the Pacific, like China, but it’s burning through these weapons in conflicts in the Middle East without sufficient plans to replace them.

Archer Macy, a retired Navy admiral, told Business Insider that the SM-3 is particularly important in a fight with China because the interceptor is designed to counter China’s “apparent preference for long-range theater weapons.””

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-navy-burning-missiles-middle-080001046.html

BPEA Fall 2024 Session 6 – The Economics of Sanctions: From Theory Into Practice

Posted on by Lone Candle

Sanctions against Russia made their ability to wage war weaker than it otherwise would have been, but only had limited effectiveness due to poor execution and other powers not going along.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74hq_0BLxf4

Defining Success: Does the U.S. Need an ‘End State’ for its China Policy?

Posted on by Lone Candle

The U.S. needs to pull together its different resources in different domains to successfully compete against China, including not just militarily, but taking an active diplomatic and economic role in Asia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1shff8rVn-k

Austria says Russia to cut off gas from Saturday

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Ukraine has said it will not extend the transit agreement with Russian state-owned Gazprom in order to deprive Russia of profits that Kyiv says help to finance the war against it.
Moscow’s suspension of gas for Austria, the main receiver of gas via Ukraine, means Russia will now only supply significant gas volumes to Hungary and Slovakia, in Hungary’s case via a pipeline running mostly through Turkey. In contrast, Russia met 40% of the European Union’s gas needs before Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.”

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/austrias-omv-informed-gazprom-deliveries-150454416.html

UN officials plan to charm Stefanik

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Stefanik is a onetime moderate Republican who has transformed herself into a pro-Trump loyalist. She stood up for Trump relentlessly when he faced impeachment.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/11/un-officials-charm-stefanik-trump-00188868

China delimits a contested South China Sea shoal in a dispute with Philippines

Posted on by Lone Candle

“China has published baselines for a contested shoal in the South China Sea it had seized from the Philippines, a move that’s likely to increase tensions over overlapping territorial claims.
The Foreign Ministry on Sunday posted online geographic coordinates for the baselines around Scarborough Shoal. A nation’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zone are typically defined as the distance from the baselines.

Both China and the Philippines claim Scarborough Shoal and other outcroppings in the South China Sea. China seized the shoal, which lies west of the main Philippine island of Luzon, in 2012 and has since restricted access to Filipino fishermen there. A 2016 ruling by an international arbitration court found that most Chinese claims in the South China Sea were invalid but Beijing refuses to abide by it.

Ships from China and the Philippines have collided several times as part of increased confrontations, and the Chinese coast guard has blasted Philippine vessels with water cannons.

China’s move came two days after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed two laws demarcating the government’s claims in the disputed waters.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-delimits-contested-south-china-105051495.html