U.S. sanctions and China’s nuclear influence on the West: The Sliding-Doors Moment in History, Mr. Fleming

But Mr. Fleming’s warning is another reminder of the speed at which the Western allies have come to view themselves as in direct competition, and sometimes in conflict, with both of the world’s other major nuclear superpowers. The more manageable of the two is Russia.

Until recent years, most European nations have shied away from discussing Beijing’s intentions in public due to its importance to Germany’s growth. The United States imposed sanctions on the Chinese company which meant that it was not possible for it to provide equipment for Britain’s 5G network.

Beneath Mr. Xi’s efforts to project confidence lie undercurrents of domestic dissatisfaction with how doggedly he has stuck with “zero Covid” policies, mismanaged the economy and alienated the West. Yet so long as Mr. Xi can point to perceived U.S.-led efforts to contain China’s development, his appeals to Chinese nationalism will continue to win these domestic debates and sideline dissent as unpatriotic. Many Chinese who are unhappy with how Mr. Xi has ruled still share his view that U.S. pressure and sanctions are intended to undermine China’s development and preserve U.S. primacy.

Mr. Fleming said that in the case of China, this could be “the sliding-doors moment in history,” in which the United States and its allies may soon discover that they are too far behind in a series of critical technologies to maintain a military or technological edge over Beijing.

He said that the move to develop central bank digital currencies that could be used to track transactions could allow China to partially evade the sanctions being applied to Putin’s regime in Russia. He said that this was another example of how China was learning from the conflict in Ukraine if it decided to move against Taiwan.

Mr. Fleming also described China’s moves to build “a powerful antisatellite capability, with a doctrine of denying other nations access to space in the event of a conflict.” He said that China was trying to change international technology standards to help it track its citizens in other countries and that they were trying to suppress speech of Chinese citizens living abroad.

He wrote in July, “the new guidelines on non-war operations would be a nextstep in bringing China’s military presence out into the world and likely another step away from the peaceful rise it once promised to the global community.”

“The volume, the number of Chinese intercepts at sea and in the air have increased significantly over five years,” Milley said, though he offered no further details on the figure.

Biden’s repeated statements on the American obligation to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion have done little to lower the temperature. During an interview with CBS in September, the latest came.

The US military believes a trip by Pelosi and other lawmakers would pose security risks according to President Joe Biden. The Pentagon has declined to say if officials have directly briefed the California Democrat, but officials say worries include China establishing a no-fly zone or increasing unsafe intercepts of US and allied ships and aircraft in the Pacific region.

Officials tell CNN the aim is to have a solid look at any changes in patterns of Chinese military activity. Interactions between the two militaries are so sensitive that incidents are often not made public. For example, in June, a US C-130 transport plane being operated by US special forces had some type of encounter with Chinese aircraft, but the Pentagon has yet to publicly acknowledge the incident.

The Australian government stated in February that a Chinese navy ship shone a laser at an Australian Air Force jet and that it was a serious safety incident.

“Acts like this have the potential to endanger lives,” the Australian Defence Force said in a statement at the time, adding it strongly condemns the “unprofessional and unsafe military conduct.” In the past, pilots who have been targeted by laser attacks have reported a range of symptoms, from pain to temporary blindness.

The Rise and Fall of China During the Pretorian Warfare of the Cold War, Addressing the Security and Security Problems of the World

“Indo-Pacific countries shouldn’t face political intimidation, economic coercion, or harassment by maritime militias,” Austin said in a keynote speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier defense conference.

The development of China’s national defense is aimed at meeting its rightful security needs and contributing to the growth of the world’s peaceful forces, the white paper said. “China will never threaten any other country or seek any sphere of influence.”

Earlier this month, a US Navy warship challenged Chinese claims to disputed islands in the South China Sea, the US 7th Fleet said in a statement – the second operation of its kind this week.

The document, required by Congress, comes 21 months into Biden’s term. Over the course of the President’s tenure, there has been proof that the strategy focuses on building global partnerships and countering China and Russia.

“Around the world, the need for American leadership is as great as it has ever been. We are in the midst of a strategic competition to shape the future of the international order,” Biden writes in the introduction to the strategy.

“We will not leave our future vulnerable to the whims of those who do not share our vision for a world that is free, open, prosperous, and secure,” he goes on. “As the world continues to navigate the lingering impacts of the pandemic and global economic uncertainty, there is no nation better positioned to lead with strength and purpose than the United States of America.”

The document states “the most pressing strategic challenge facing our vision is from powers that layer authoritarian governance with a revisionist foreign policy,” singling out China and Russia as particular but different challenges.

“This decisive decade is critical both for defining the terms of competition, particular with the (People’s Republic of China), and for getting ahead of massive challenges that if we lose the time this decade we will not be able to keep pace with,” he said.

Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here.

Xi’s speech was a summary of the Communist Party’s five-yearly work report, the full text of which outlined an ambition for China to become more adept at deploying its military forces on a regular basis, and in diversified ways, to enable it to “win local wars.”

Even the largest and most formidable military forces are vulnerable to being exploited by smaller forces.

As he prepares to be re-elected as party leader and supreme commander of the Chinese military at this week’s 20th Party congress, analysts are concerned about parallels between the problems dogging Moscow in Ukranian and potentially weak spots in China.

“The wheels of history are rolling on towards China’s reunification and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Complete reunification of our country must be realized,” Xi told the Congress to thundering applause.

The US acknowledges that Taiwan is a part of China, but never officially recognizes the Communist Party for its claim to the self-governing island. The US provides Taiwan with defensive weapons but has not made clear if it would intervene in the event of a Chinese attack.

Xi’s visit to China as a diplomatic victory for the First World War War II: Implications for Russian President Vladimir Putin

Analysts say it would take hundreds of thousands of soldiers in what would be the largest amphibious operation since the Allies landed at Normandy in World War II.

While the PLA Navy has been churning out ships – including a new aircraft carrier launched this year and numerous Type 055 destroyers, seen by some as the world’s most powerful surface ships – doing so has been expensive.

And as Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, points out, Taiwan has a relatively cheap way of countering them – by investing in the sort of small, land-based anti-ship missiles that Ukraine has been using to great success against Russia.

China also faces a significant challenge in making sure all the different parts of its now formidable fighting forces pull in the same direction – another issue that has dogged Russia in Ukraine.

It is still in the early stages of creating unified command structures in which naval, air, army and rocket units work together seamlessly to execute a coordinated battle plan.

Xi’s work report on Sunday cited the need to “improve the command system for joint operations” and enhance the PLA’s “systems and capacity for reconnaissance and early warning, joint strikes, battlefield support, and integrated logistics support.”

In the days following the visit the PLA’s navy war-gamed a blockade of Taiwan, its rocket force sent missiles over the main island and its air force flew jets repeatedly into Taipei’s Air Defense Identification Zone.

Four of the top six officers of China’s Central Military Commission (CMC) have reached the normal retirement age of 68 and are being replaced as Xi heads into his third term, according to Joel Wuthnow, a senior research fellow at the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs at the US National Defense University.

What’s more, the four departing officers were in charge of the PLA’s actual fighting forces, while the two remaining ones come from the military’s political ranks, Wuthnow wrote for the Jamestown Foundation’s China Brief last month.

Analysts have warned of the dangers of saying something like “Russian President Vladimir Putin refers to his invasion of Ukraine as a special military operation.”

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/19/asia/china-party-congress-xi-military-russia-parallels-intl-hnk-mil-mic/index.html

Probing the Use of Force between China and Taiwan with the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (CELA)

The Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army launched a missile with a rocket force to attack designated maritime areas to the east of Taiwan.

However, Chinese state media have done their best to play the order down, saying it could cover actions such as participating in international peacekeeping operations or providing disaster relief.

The outlines aim to protect people and property, safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, and world peace and regional stability.

Evidence of Mr. Xi willingness to engage would indicate that the United States has a clear commitment to defending Taiwan.

The long-term risk is that uncontrolled competition will fuel overextension abroad, where the impulse to counter every potential threat or challenge by the other makes it difficult to focus resources and attention on achieving positive priorities and outcomes. In the United States, escalated competition could exacerbate domestic divisions and undermine democracy. More than 60 percent of Chinese-born scientists in the US are considering leaving because of increased anti- Asian violence and heightened research security, a new study shows.

In the past, we have heard about the use of force being used between China and Taiwan. The military drills near the island are taking place at a time when tensions between Beijing andTaipei are at their highest in recent decades.

The Transition from Mao Zedong’s Republic to a New Era in China, and the State of the Art in the 21st Century

No other leader has had a third term since Mao Zedong, who founded the People’s Republic of China. This break from historical norms would represent China moving into a new era, according to Yun Sun, a senior fellow and co-director of the East Asia Program and director of the China Program at the Stimson Center.

“This is actually one of the areas — compared to, for example, domestic reform and domestic economic policy — this is an area that Xi Jinping is going to prevail,” Sun said. “These people are going to operationalize his vision and his strategy with even more momentum and more precision.”

Sun believes that political loyalists of the president will be appointed to key positions to help fulfill his vision.

Sun thinks that China won’t have a system of checks and balances because of the people within the government who don’t believe that the U.S. policies towards China are the best.

The relationship has a bigger issue of the asymmetrical views that both countries have of the relationship. While China sees everything as connected, the US tries to approach issues by issue, Li said.

But that perception — and the resulting actions from the U.S., such as high-level congressional visits from the likes of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — has led to something of a catch-22 situation, Li said.

“There’s sort of a back and forth between the US and China in regard to the actions that they’ve taken.”

China’s tech industry is being prioritised more and more as the country moves toward the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” in the 2049 century, in order to make it a modern socialist country.

With this response from Washington, and China’s desire to increase its self-reliance, it’s likely that “this sort of strategic competition between technological capabilities, between supply chains, that’s going to accelerate,” Li said.

That’s resulted in Li saying that the situation is essentially an impasse. Progress can happen even if it isn’t possible, because it will test the two countries in the years to come.

The epoch of cooperation in the region after the US-Brazil midterm election: What did he learn from his trip to Cambodia?

President Joe Biden landed in Cambodia on Saturday still reveling in midterm election results that have produced an unexpected boost at home for his second two years in office.

CNN and other news outlets projected that the GOP would retain control of the Senate, which would give him a lift after he arrived in Asia.

The value of political capital on the international stage will be put to the test even as votes are still being counted, because of the scale of the challenges and the effort to translate 21 months of intensive engagement into tangible results for US alliances.

“For years, our countries have been engaged in trilateral cooperation out of a shared concern for the nuclear and missile threat North Korea poses to our people,” Biden said at the start of three-way talks.

Biden’s stop at an Asian nations summit comes as advisers see a clear boost from bucking the historical and political trends in the midterm elections. While Biden’s message won’t shift dramatically, the weight behind it is unmistakably more robust after American voters delivered a message that surpassed the hopes of even the most optimistic White House officials.

But that cooperation is imperative as recent, stepped-up aggression from North Korea will be top of mind for the trio of leaders Sunday. CNN’s count shows that North Korea has launched missiles 32 times this year. By contrast, it conducted only four tests in 2020, and eight in 2021.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Air Force One that the meeting wouldn’t lead to specific deliverables because leaders will be able to discuss broader security issues in the Indo-Pacific and threats posed by North Korea.

The trilateral comes one day ahead of a high-stakes, one-on-one meeting for Biden with China’s leader Xi Jinping, their first in-person encounter since Biden took office. That meeting will take place on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali.

This part of the trip reflects stepped up engagement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Southeast Asia during the Biden administration, a senior administration official told reporters earlier this week.

The military seized power in a coup in the country ofMyanmar, which is one of the key topics of discussion this weekend in Cambodia.

The leaders will discuss how to protect human rights, respect for rule of law, good governance, and the rules based international order.

On Friday, Biden made a three-hour stop in Sharm El Shiekh, Egypt, where he attended the COP27 climate summit and met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

Whether Biden makes a similar statement when he sits down with Xi on Monday remains to be seen. Asked during a news conference ahead of his trip whether he would reiterate his commitment to defend Taiwan militarily directly to his counterpart, Biden demurred.

For his part, Xi is fond of using a specific metaphor to warn Biden against overstepping: “Those who play with fire will perish by it,” he told the US president over the telephone in July as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was preparing to visit Taiwan with a congressional delegation.

It was the fourth time he had made such a remark. He said while visiting Tokyo earlier this year that the US would intervene militarily if China attempts to take Taiwan by force. And he told a CNN town hall in 2021 that the US would protect the island in the event of a Chinese attack.

“We agree with what we signed on to a long time ago. And that there’s ‘one China’ policy, and Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence. We are not moving – we’re not encouraging their being independent. He said that it was their decision.