Asia-Pacific News Thread

[squeekness]

Yeah, that’s what I was saying with the second point that Taiwan would be harder for the West to provide assistance to (compared to Ukraine), which is on Western Europe’s doorstep and directly accessible by land. But separately, an island is easier for the island itself to defend as they don’t have to worry about direct land attacks at all and the attackers have to make landfall while under fire somehow. Obviously China is many times more powerful than Taiwan so would be able to dominate by air, but to take over you need to occupy by land at some point. If Taiwan was linked by land to China then they could steamroll them.

Taiwan is so small it wouldn't take a lot of ships to surround it, not like your island which is bigger and therefore more easily defended. Taiwan could be ugly in other ways-- it doesn't have a lot of open spaces and with such large cities you're looking at gruesome house to house guerrilla warfare. There will be a terrible amount of killing.

 

[:eek:]

China hawk says Beijing to 'bring war to the west,' take Taiwan (cnbc.com)

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Bloomberg News - China Is Hiding More and More Data From the Rest of the World

China's Xi calls for patience as Communist Party tries to reverse economic slump

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Axios - In Tanzania, Beijing is running a training school for authoritarianism

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Xi Jinping unexpectedly pulls out of BRICS [Brazil/Russia/India/China/South Africa economic bloc] summit speech in 'extraordinary' move

India becomes first country to successfully land spacecraft on moon's south pole

 

[squeekness]

Putin must be crying that their rocket worked while his crashed, lol.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

NY Times - China to Its People: Spies Are Everywhere, Help Us Catch Them
As Beijing tries to enlist the “whole of society” to guard against foreign enemies, the line between vigilance and paranoia fades.

 

[squeekness]

Love thy neighbor..... or not.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Bharat G20 invitation fuels rumours India may change name | India | The Guardian
World leaders attending summit in New Delhi at weekend asked to dinner with ‘president of Bharat’

 

[squeekness]

I find it hard to believe India would change their name, but that's me....

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Gizmodo - Chinese Government Officials Banned From Using iPhones at Work

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

China considering ban on clothing that 'hurts feelings' of nation | CNN

 

[squeekness]

Of the nation or of leaders? This a free speech thing? Can't have that.

 

[Iceman]

They’ll probably be wanting everyone to have a uniform soon.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Wall Street Journal - China’s Defense Minister Is Being Removed From Post, U.S. Officials Say
Li Shangfu, who hasn’t appeared in public since late August, is latest of several senior Chinese officials to disappear without explanation

The Defense Post - Beijing Says Sanctions Lockheed, Northrop Over Taiwan Arms Sales

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Trudeau says intelligence shows India was behind slaying of Sikh leader in Surrey, B.C.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly expels Indian foreign intelligence agency’s head of Canadian operations

www.theglobeandmail.com

 

[:eek:]

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/24/asia/philippines-south-china-sea-floating-barrier-intl-hnk/index.html

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

China Reaches Peak Gasoline in Milestone for Electric Vehicles

Sinopec, the country’s top oil refiner, brought its forecast forward by two years in a development that didn’t get its due.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

India Pushes Back Against Russia Demands to Pay for Oil in Yuan

India is rejecting pressure from Russian oil suppliers to pay for crude imports in the Chinese currency as tensions between New Delhi and Beijing continue to simmer.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

The US is quietly arming Taiwan to the teeth

America is using its own money to send weapons to a place it officially doesn't recognise.

www.bbc.com

 

[squeekness]

The US is quietly arming Taiwan to the teeth

America is using its own money to send weapons to a place it officially doesn't recognise.

www.bbc.com

Even so, no tiny island can defend itself against a monster like China.

 

[Iceman]

The US is quietly arming Taiwan to the teeth

America is using its own money to send weapons to a place it officially doesn't recognise.

www.bbc.com

If no one recognises Taiwan, and especially China, then this can just be called the US sending weapons to China - in which case they can’t complain.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

U.S. Attorney Announces Charges In Connection With Foiled Plot To Assassinate U.S. Citizen In New York City

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Anne Milgram, the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), and James Smith, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”)...

www.justice.gov

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7036282

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Philippines says Chinese coast guard used water cannons against its vessels for a second day

Philippine officials say the Chinese coast guard has targeted Philippine vessels with water cannon blasts and rammed one of them, causing damage and endangering Filipino crew members off a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.

apnews.com

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

China's ban on Apple's iPhone accelerates- Bloomberg News

https://www.reuters.com/technology/chinas-ban-apples-iphone-accelerates-bloomberg-news-2023-12-15/