We have not yet forgotten how the war-mongering U.S. forced Russia to take military action against Ukraine which turned into a war which is still on and both sides strongly insist on their rights and peace talks have no room in their dictionaries, and one should blame the West and especially the U.S. for prolongation of this war which has affected global food security and economy.

And now it seems the U.S. wants to drag China into another war this time against Taiwan and if China is fooled and begins the war, many economies in the region and the world will collapse and be affected.

The U.S. officials in recent months have visited Taiwan which has enraged the Chinese officials and this has led to conducting several military drills by the Chinese forces in the waters near Taiwan and their fighter jets have several times violated Taiwan airspace.

Several experts and media outlets have warned of possible war between China and Taiwan if the U.S. continues supplying sophisticated arms to Taiwan which is enraging Beijing.

As per reports, Taiwan is in the process of buying 400 land-launched Harpoon anti-ship missiles from the U.S. in a move that is expected to draw condemnation from China which considers the self-ruled island part of its own territory.

Citing U.S.-Taiwan Business Council President Rupert Hammond-Chambers and sources, Bloomberg News reported on Monday that Taiwan was poised to purchase 400 missiles under the $1.17 billion contract announced by the Pentagon on April 7.

At the time, the Pentagon said production was expected to complete by March 2029.

Commenting on the news report, Taiwanese Defense Ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang said at a regular news conference the ministry had previously disclosed information about the purchase, adding it was “confident” the deal would go according to schedule.

In 2020, Taipei said it planned to obtain land-based Boeing-made Harpoon anti-ship missiles as part of its military modernization efforts.

According to Bloomberg, Taiwan previously purchased the ship-launched version of Harpoon missiles, but the new contract marks the first time it will get the mobile, land-based variant.

The contract with Boeing was issued by the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command on Taiwan’s behalf, Bloomberg cited Hammond-Chambers as saying.

Beijing views Chinese Taipei as an inseparable part of China, repeatedly warming Washington against unwise provocations in this regard.

China had previously warned Washington that providing the self-ruled island with advanced weaponry would breach Chinese sovereignty and do “severe damage” to bilateral relations.

The report comes days after U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California and stressed the need to accelerate arms deliveries to the self-ruled island.

The events and incidents in recent months are like what happened before Russia started attack on Ukraine and for this reason experts have warned of possible war.

The U.S. which is falling behind in competition with China in economy and even influencing other countries seems resorting  to trigger a war in the East Asia in order to unbalance China’s economy which is bouncing after the decline due to the pandemic.

China is moving ahead to become world economy No.1 and its national currency may replace dollar in the international trade exchanges and this is what makes the U.S. become concerned and Washington is working to curb China’s full speed economic dominance in the world.

Last week U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul said the United States would help provide Taiwan armed forces training and expedite weapons deliveries, as China began three days of military exercises around the self-ruled island.

Speaking at a luncheon in Taipei, McCaul expressed U.S. support for Taiwan. “I sign off on those deliveries and we are doing everything in our power to expedite this,” he said. “Peace through strength is real, and that’s why we need to harden Taiwan.”

One way to speed up the delivery of arms to Taiwan, McCaul said, is to assess high-risk and high-threat areas and rearrange the order of the arms deliveries.

A story by The Wall Street Journal last November indicated that the backlog of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan had reached $18.7 billion including 208 Javelin missiles and 215 Stinger missiles that showed their prowess in the Ukraine war.

McCaul said the strengthening of Taiwan through arms sales and the joint military training will show China that it will pay a huge military and economic price if it tries to invade or encircle Taiwan.

On Monday, CNN in a report reiterated that Taiwan needs more weapons for defending against China and many more media outlets have also called for supplying arms to Taiwan and these sound alarm for a new war for unsettling China’s rising power and global influence.

Taipei recently – and very publicly – announced an extension to mandatory military service periods from four months to a year and accelerated the development of its indigenous weapons program to boost its combat readiness.

But analysts say a recent announcement – one that has perhaps gone less remarked upon in the global media – could prove a game-changer: talks between Taipei and the United States to establish a “contingency stockpile” of munitions on Taiwan’s soil.

Under this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, passed by the US Congress and signed by US President Joe Biden, Taiwan will be eligible to receive up to $1 billion in weapons and munitions from the United States to counter China’s growing military threat.

The act also allows for the creation of a regional contingency stockpile, which would enable the Pentagon to store weapons in Taiwan for use if a military conflict with China arises, CNN claimed.

So one can see the U.S. is working to trigger another war or to tame China throw threat of war with Taiwan like what happened in the case of Ukraine and recent polls inside the U.S. show that majority of Americans consider China as the threat number one to the country and this helps U.S. officials to work on something to curb China’s power and influence, and the war with Taiwan will be one of them.

Although the world cannot tolerate another war but this is the war mongering U.S. which has been always behind most wars in the world and it gives no damn to what the world thinks like in the case of attack on Iraq under the pretext of weapons of mass destruction.

Unfortunately, Taiwanese officials act as the U.S. officials want and this is very dangerous and may lead to a war because China does not tolerate Taiwan to become the U.S. base in its neighborhood and any time may fall in the trap of the U.S for starting a war.

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China considers democratically ruled Taiwan its own territory and one of its most sensitive diplomatic issues, regularly denouncing the United States for its support of the island.

A US C-40A, a military version of the Boeing 737, entered Taiwan air space with permission, though it did not land at any Taiwan airports, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

The US aircraft took off from Japan’s Okinawa Island, where there is a major US airbase, and flew over northern and western Taiwan on its way to Southeast Asia, Taiwan media reported.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said the US aircraft had “harmed our sovereignty, security and development rights, and contravened international law and the basic norms of international relations”, Reuters reported.

“It was an illegal act and a seriously provocative incident,” the office said in a statement carried by state media. “We express strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition.”

The US Air Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Taiwan is entirely separately governed from China and controls its own air space.

On the same day as the US aircraft flew over the island, Taiwan’s air force had to warn off several Chinese fighter jets which briefly entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone. Taiwan has repeatedly complained about Chinese drills near the island.

While Washington and Taipei have no formal diplomatic ties, the United States is Taiwan’s strongest international supporter and main arms supplier, becoming another source of US-China tension.

The United States has stepped up its military activities near the island too, with semi-regular US Navy voyages through the narrow Taiwan Strait that separates the island from China.

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The United States, like most countries, has no official diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to provide the democratic island with the means to defend itself. China routinely denounces US arms sales to Taiwan.

The US State Department has approved a possible sale to Taiwan of 18 MK-48 Mod6 Advanced Technology Heavy Weight Torpedoes and related equipment for an estimated cost of $180 million, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today,” it added, Reuters reported.

The proposed sale serves US national, economic, and security interests by supporting Taiwan’s “continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability,” the agency said.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said China had lodged “solemn representations” with Washington about the planned sale.

China urged the United States to stop all arms sales to, and military ties with, Taiwan to prevent further damage to Sino-US relations, Zhao added.

The US announcement came on the same day Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen was sworn in for her second term in office, saying she strongly rejecting China’s sovereignty claims. China responded that “reunification” was inevitable and that it would never tolerate Taiwan’s independence.

China has stepped up its military drills near Taiwan since Tsai’s re-election, flying fighter jets into the island’s air space and sailing warships around Taiwan.

China views Tsai as a separatist bent on formal independence for Taiwan. Tsai says Taiwan is an independent state called the Republic of China, its official name, and does not want to be part of the People’s Republic of China governed by Beijing.

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The ministry said it was fully monitoring the Shandong, China first domestically built aircraft carrier, and accompanying ships as they traversed the strait separating China from self-ruled Taiwan.

Taiwan’s presidential office said in a statement that China had an “international responsibility” to contribute to cross-strait and regional peace and welfare, AFP reported.

Last month Beijing confirmed it had sent the new carrier through the strait as part of routine training, sparking concerns from Washington’s de facto embassy in Taiwan.

At the time, foreign minister Joseph Wu accused China of attempting to intervene in Taiwan’s elections, saying “voters won’t be intimidated.”

The sail-bys come ahead of Taiwan’s January 11 presidential elections, with Beijing-skeptic President Tsai Ing-wen seeking a second term against a challenger who favors warmer ties with China.

Beijing has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure on Taiwan since Tsai came to power in 2016, as her government refuses to acknowledge that the democratic island is part of “one China.”

Tsai — who has voiced support for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement — has described the elections as a fight for Taiwan’s freedom and democracy.

China still sees Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

Beijing announced earlier this month that the Shandong had officially entered service.

It’s only other carrier — the Liaoning — has passed through the Taiwan Strait several times in recent years, most recently in June.

US navy ships periodically conduct “freedom of navigation” operations in the Taiwan Strait, while Canadian and French ships have also sailed through the waterway this year.

China views any ships passing through the strait as a breach of its territorial sovereignty — while the US and many other nations see the route as international space.

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The Iranian women then won their second match against Hong Kong to advance to the next stage, where they suffered another 3-0 defeat against Thailand.

For their fourth match, the Iranian squad took on Taiwan and lost 3-1 (25-22; 25-22;25-19;25-12) to lose the chance to secure a place at the top of the table.

The female volleyball team will have to wait for the winner of the Indonesia-Kazakhstan match on Sunday to have the chance to secure a fifth place in the Asian competitions. A loss in this round of competition would mean no a better place than the 7th or the 8th for the Iranian squad.

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A Reuters witness said the shallow quake shook buildings in the capital, Taipei. The quake near the northeastern county of Yilan had a depth of 22 km (13 miles).

There were no immediate reports of significant damage or casualties.

The earthquake triggered limited power cuts and forced the suspension of regional railway service in northern Taiwan. There were also reports of gas and water leaks.

Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China considers its own, lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes.

More than 100 people were killed in a quake in southern Taiwan in 2016, and some Taiwanese remain scarred by a 7.6 magnitude quake that killed more than 2,000 people in 1999.

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China on Wednesday warned that it is ready for war if there was any move toward Taiwan’s independence, accusing the United States of undermining global stability and denouncing its arms sales to the self-ruled island.

The warship sent to the 112-mile-wide (180-km) Taiwan Strait was identified as the Antietam.

“The (ship’s) transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Commander Clay Doss, a spokesman for the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet, said in a statement. “The US Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows,” he added, Reuters reported.

The voyage risks further raising tensions with China but will likely be viewed by self-ruled Taiwan as a sign of support from US President Donald Trump’s administration amid growing friction between Taipei and Beijing.

The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help provide the island with the means to defend itself and is its main source of arms.

Taiwan’s defense ministry said the US ship had sailed north through the Taiwan Strait in its freedom-of-navigation voyage and Taiwan had monitored the mission.

China has been ramping up pressure to assert its sovereignty over the democratic island, which it considers a wayward province of “one China” and sacred Chinese territory.

On Wednesday, Chinese Defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian told a news briefing on a defense white paper, the first like it in several years to outline the military’s strategic concerns, that China would make its greatest effort for peaceful reunification with Taiwan.

“If there are people who dare to try to split Taiwan from the country, China’s military will be ready to go to war to firmly safeguard national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity,” he said.

China has repeatedly sent military aircraft and ships to circle Taiwan on exercises in the past few years and worked to isolate it internationally, whittling down its few remaining diplomatic allies.

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It came after U.S. State Department announced a $2.2 billion arms sale to Taiwan, which includes 108 Abrams tanks and 250 Stinger surface-to-air missiles.

The Chinese government immediately lodged formal complaints through diplomatic channels, expressing “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” to the U.S.’ move. It also demanded that the U.S. “immediately cancel” the arms sale to the self-ruled Taipei.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has dismissed China’s complaints, saying the military equipment would contribute to “peace and stability” in Asia.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday warned the United States “not to play with fire” regarding Taiwan.

Earlier this month, Beijing also criticized London for interfering in its internal affairs, telling Britain to keep its hands off Hong Kong.

On July 3, China denounced British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt as “shameless” and said it had made a diplomatic complaint to London after Hunt warned of consequences if China neglected its commitments to guarantee basic freedoms in Hong Kong.

“In the minds of some people, they regard Hong Kong as still under British rule. They forget … that Hong Kong has now returned to the embrace of the Motherland,” China’s ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming, said.

“I tell them: hands off Hong Kong and show respect. This colonial mindset is still haunting the minds of some officials or politicians,” Liu told reporters.

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