A US Navy guided-missile destroyer sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Thursday in the first US transit of the sensitive waterway of 2023. The US Navy’s Seventh Fleet said the USS Chung-Hoon made the passage.
Entering the new year, tensions between the US and China over Taiwan are rising as Washington continues to escalate support for Taipei, which Beijing views as an affront to the one-China policy.
The US Navy describes its passages through the Taiwan Strait as “routine,” but China views them as provocations. In recent years, the US has stepped up its Taiwan Strait transits and got some of its Western allies to do so as well, including France, Canada, and Britain.
When announcing a Taiwan Strait transit that took place in November, Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, said the US sends a warship through the waterway about once a month. The Japan-based Seventh Fleet typically puts out a press release for each transit but hasn’t reported one since September, when a Canadian frigate joined a US Navy warship in the provocation.
China’s military activity in the region spiked in 2022 in response to growing US support for Taiwan. Following former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) visit to the island, China launched its largest-ever military drills around the island, which included a simulated blockade and firing missiles over Taiwan.
Someone needs to keep Nancy’s backend parked in the garage. I don’t care if she is a democrat or a republican even. She’s got a loud mouth. If she can annoy me so easily imagine how China feels…
Nancy is well past her Use Before Date.
lol!
First they poke the Bear and then the Dragon. IMHO this can’t have a happy ending.
It’s very true wendell….
As far as the Dragon goes,the Dragon is not innocent-Leave Taiwan alone-let the people of Taiwan decide their own fate
B.F.D.
lol
First ‘ratcheting up of the tensions’ because that is what we do.
I’m just wondering if we are willing to start a war over this….
Hey, it’s what we do. It’s who we are. The leopard can’t change its spots.
I don’t think I am up to WWIII OB1. It seems to me that after 2 World Wars, we should have evolved past this point…
I have a son and grandson, so there are two close reasons to hope for a return to sanity, and I happen to like this planet, as it’s one of the nicest ones I’ve ever visited, a real jewel. Oh, and I like most of the animals, except for the political badgers 😉
Well said, well said. 🙂
I have a daughter and a grandson OB1.
Like a stage play, a 3rd act must come to pass, unfortunately, otherwise we can’t evolve.
Hopefully, the ending won’t be cataclysmic………………………….
Well, if the last two World Wars has taught us anything, we become extremely efficient in our own extermination.
Losing hegemony is tough. Like all empires, they’ll try to take down as many people as possible hoping for a stalemate.
If war breaks out, I’m going to roll a big fat joint, and sit on my porch and watch the fireworks. I will think about all of the things that got us to this point…. Peace seems to elude us……..
World War One, World War Two………………………………………………..
World War Three?
I think it is in our nature to tempt the fates…
It’s too late at this point. The uni-party want this mega war with China.
Man, I hope not but it certainly is a possibility….
Can’t wait for this new house Republican hawks committee to navigate us into a war and then blame the Chinese for their “aggression”
The fat giant thinks he can take on the dragon?
They are beating us by virtue of their economy,aided by US globalist politicians.No need for war.
“Beijing views as an affront to the one-China policy.” Fancy that!
If Chinese ships entered US territorial water of course the US would welcome them as friends!!!
How much of the strait is comprised of the Beijing regime’s “territorial waters?”
In theory, those waters would extend a total of 12 miles from China’s coast, but there’s also been a previous tacit agreement vis a vis the “Davis Line” down the middle of the strait. Are the US ships sailing the Chinese side of that line?
I still keep thinking that a big war is creeping…
Yes,but it takes two to tango.Simulated air strikes against Taiwan,Parading the fleet around and around Taiwan,openly speaking of Nuking the US-really peaceful moves.
Great, sail through it and everybody else, those are international waters.
This kind of comment fills me with despair.
So we antagonize others and beat the drums for war just to prove that we have the right to sail there???
This is absolutely madness. If we win, we gain nothing. If we lose, we gain the right to say that our dead troops is completely the fault of China.
It is as if you WANT missile strikes launched against our naval assets.
Who’s this “we?”
I don’t have any naval assets.
But if I did, I can’t see how sailing them in international waters would constitute “antagonizing others” and “beating the drumgs for war.”
We = the US.
The Gulf of Mexico likely has parts that are international waters. We .. oops the US sorry … would definitely react quite strongly to Chinese military ships capable of launching nuclear weapons sailing around there. Stationing Chinese warships 20 miles or whatever the number is away from Los Angeles would also get the attention of the US.
It is one thing to say that Chinese naval units in the Gulf of Mexico and US naval units near China are acceptable behavior. But acting like this is completely innocent is a good way to sleep walk into WW3.
The only reason the Chinese regime isn’t sailing nuclear-capable warships around the Gulf of Mexico (almost all of which consists of international waters) very often is that they’re just now developing a blue-water navy capable of supporting such operations. The Russian regime routines sails nuclear-capable warships in international waters near the US.
The best way to sleepwalk into WW3 with the Chinese regime is to go along with its pretend bullshit games every time Xi throws himself on the floor and threatens to hold his breath until he turns blue.
So, is this a flashpoint?….. Is this something the US and its allies are prepared to fight for?…………..
I bloody don’t want to go to war with China…