WW3.0
Chinese state media sets sights on Taiwan as US' Afghan retreat stokes nationalismBy Nectar Gan and Steve George, CNN 54 mins ago
The chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan has presented Beijing with a propaganda boost, with Chinese state media capitalizing on the crisis to trumpet the supposed decline of America and taunt Taiwan with threats of invasion.
© Shekib Rahmani/AP US soldiers stand guard along a perimeter at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, August 16, 2021.
The jingoistic rhetoric coincided with air and naval drills launched Tuesday by the Chinese military, which sent fighter jets and warships near Taiwan in response to what it called the "repeated collusion in provocation" by Washington and Taipei.
In recent years, China's ruling Communist Party has sought to present the US as a fading global power. And now, the return of the Taliban to the streets of the Afghan capital is being touted by state media as the "death knell of US hegemony."
"The fall of Kabul marks the collapse of the international image and credibility of the US," a commentary from state news agency Xinhua said Monday.
"Following the blows of the global financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic, the decay of the American hegemony has become an undisputed reality. Its failure in Afghanistan is another turning point in that spiral fall," it added.
The Global Times, a state-run nationalist tabloid, meanwhile, has repeatedly played up what it described as the "unreliability of US commitment to its allies," suggesting the self-governing island of Taiwan could face the same fate as Afghanistan in the event of conflict with China.
Taiwan and mainland China have been governed separately since the end of a civil war more than seven decades ago, in which the defeated Nationalists fled to Taipei. But the Chinese Communist Party views Taiwan — a democratic island of around 24 million people — as an inseparable part of its territory, despite having never controlled it.
"Once a war breaks out in the Taiwan Straits, the island's defense will collapse in hours and the US military won't come to help." the Global Times said in an editorial Monday.
Arthur Ding, an international relations professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei, called Beijing's propaganda messaging on Afghanistan "cheap psychological warfare," noting it was intended to convey the US' alleged unreliability, especially to Taiwan's more receptive opposition supporters who favor closer ties with Beijing.
For decades an uneasy status quo governed cross-strait relations. But under President Xi Jinping, China has increased military activity around the island, in response to what it considers to be growing calls for formal independence.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, discussions have broken out across Taiwanese social media in recent days as to how the government in Taipei would respond in the event of a Chinese invasion, and whether the US would indeed come to the island's defense.
So much so, that on Tuesday, Taiwan's premier publicly stressed the island would not collapse like Afghanistan if invaded. In a press conference, Premier Su Tseng-chang appeared to confront the Chinese threats directly, saying Taiwan's leaders are "not afraid of being killed or imprisoned" by "powerful countries that want to swallow up Taiwan using force."
Politicians in Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DDP) also dismissed attempts to draw parallels between Taiwan and Afghanistan, saying such comparisons are inherently fraught.
"If we're going to make Afghan comparisons, Taiwan survived that moment 40+ years ago. US troops left Taiwan in 1979 after recognizing the PRC," Wen Lii, a local ruling party official, wrote on Twitter, referring to China by abbreviation of its official name the People's Republic of China. "So no, Taiwan is not Afghanistan," he added.
Kolas Yotaka, spokesperson for Taiwan's Presidential Office, said the "lazy comparisons...ignore the realities of both countries, and show little regard for the immense human suffering facing many in Afghanistan today."
Despite formally switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing, the US has remained a staunch ally of Taiwan, supplying the island with defensive weaponry under the terms of the decades-old Taiwan Relations Act, including a proposed $750 million arms sale announced earlier this month.
In April, US President Joe Biden dispatched an unofficial delegation to Taiwan in a show of support for the island, according to a senior administration official and a State Department spokesperson.
The State Department also announced in April that the agency had "issued new guidelines for US government interaction with Taiwan counterparts to encourage US government engagement with Taiwan that reflects our deepening unofficial relationship."
On Tuesday, China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) conducted "joint fire assault and other drills using actual troops" off the southwest and southeast of Taiwan, according to a statement from the PLA's Eastern Theater Command.
"Recently, the US and Taiwan have repeatedly colluded in provocation and sent serious wrong signals, severely infringing upon China's sovereignty, and severely undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," the statement said. "It is a solemn response to external interference and provocations by Taiwan independence forces."
Though many have speculated the abrupt announcement of the PLA drills was likely timed to accompany Beijing's propaganda messaging on Afghanistan, Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center, said the scale of the drills suggested some degree of prior planning, rather than being tied to a specific event.
The jingoistic rhetoric coincided with air and naval drills launched Tuesday by the Chinese military, which sent fighter jets and warships near Taiwan in response to what it called the "repeated collusion in provocation" by Washington and Taipei.
In recent years, China's ruling Communist Party has sought to present the US as a fading global power. And now, the return of the Taliban to the streets of the Afghan capital is being touted by state media as the "death knell of US hegemony."
"The fall of Kabul marks the collapse of the international image and credibility of the US," a commentary from state news agency Xinhua said Monday.
"Following the blows of the global financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic, the decay of the American hegemony has become an undisputed reality. Its failure in Afghanistan is another turning point in that spiral fall," it added.
The Global Times, a state-run nationalist tabloid, meanwhile, has repeatedly played up what it described as the "unreliability of US commitment to its allies," suggesting the self-governing island of Taiwan could face the same fate as Afghanistan in the event of conflict with China.
Taiwan and mainland China have been governed separately since the end of a civil war more than seven decades ago, in which the defeated Nationalists fled to Taipei. But the Chinese Communist Party views Taiwan — a democratic island of around 24 million people — as an inseparable part of its territory, despite having never controlled it.
"Once a war breaks out in the Taiwan Straits, the island's defense will collapse in hours and the US military won't come to help." the Global Times said in an editorial Monday.
Arthur Ding, an international relations professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei, called Beijing's propaganda messaging on Afghanistan "cheap psychological warfare," noting it was intended to convey the US' alleged unreliability, especially to Taiwan's more receptive opposition supporters who favor closer ties with Beijing.
For decades an uneasy status quo governed cross-strait relations. But under President Xi Jinping, China has increased military activity around the island, in response to what it considers to be growing calls for formal independence.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, discussions have broken out across Taiwanese social media in recent days as to how the government in Taipei would respond in the event of a Chinese invasion, and whether the US would indeed come to the island's defense.
So much so, that on Tuesday, Taiwan's premier publicly stressed the island would not collapse like Afghanistan if invaded. In a press conference, Premier Su Tseng-chang appeared to confront the Chinese threats directly, saying Taiwan's leaders are "not afraid of being killed or imprisoned" by "powerful countries that want to swallow up Taiwan using force."
Politicians in Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DDP) also dismissed attempts to draw parallels between Taiwan and Afghanistan, saying such comparisons are inherently fraught.
"If we're going to make Afghan comparisons, Taiwan survived that moment 40+ years ago. US troops left Taiwan in 1979 after recognizing the PRC," Wen Lii, a local ruling party official, wrote on Twitter, referring to China by abbreviation of its official name the People's Republic of China. "So no, Taiwan is not Afghanistan," he added.
Kolas Yotaka, spokesperson for Taiwan's Presidential Office, said the "lazy comparisons...ignore the realities of both countries, and show little regard for the immense human suffering facing many in Afghanistan today."
Despite formally switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing, the US has remained a staunch ally of Taiwan, supplying the island with defensive weaponry under the terms of the decades-old Taiwan Relations Act, including a proposed $750 million arms sale announced earlier this month.
In April, US President Joe Biden dispatched an unofficial delegation to Taiwan in a show of support for the island, according to a senior administration official and a State Department spokesperson.
The State Department also announced in April that the agency had "issued new guidelines for US government interaction with Taiwan counterparts to encourage US government engagement with Taiwan that reflects our deepening unofficial relationship."
On Tuesday, China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) conducted "joint fire assault and other drills using actual troops" off the southwest and southeast of Taiwan, according to a statement from the PLA's Eastern Theater Command.
"Recently, the US and Taiwan have repeatedly colluded in provocation and sent serious wrong signals, severely infringing upon China's sovereignty, and severely undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," the statement said. "It is a solemn response to external interference and provocations by Taiwan independence forces."
Though many have speculated the abrupt announcement of the PLA drills was likely timed to accompany Beijing's propaganda messaging on Afghanistan, Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center, said the scale of the drills suggested some degree of prior planning, rather than being tied to a specific event.
'DOTARD' TOO
US Senator John Cornyn deletes erroneous Taiwan tweet blasted by Chinese mediaThe lawmaker was called a ‘dotard’ after incorrectly posting that the US has 30,000 troops stationed on the island ‘today’
Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin says if Cornyn’s tweet is true, China must ‘immediately launch a war to eliminate and expel US soldiers’
Reuters
Published: 3:11am, 18 Aug, 2021
REFUSING TO WEAR A MASK
US Senator John Cornyn talks to reporters as he arrives for a vote on Capitol Hill on August 10. Photo: Reuters
US Republican Senator John Cornyn has deleted a tweet in which he said wrongly that the United States currently has 30,000 troops stationed in Taiwan, a claim that spurred Chinese media to call him a “dotard”.
Cornyn included the statistic late on Monday in a tweet about the numbers of US troops based around the world “today”, including in Afghanistan before the final withdrawal of US forces from that country, which is now under Taliban control.
The US military did have forces in Taiwan before the United States formally established ties with communist China in 1979. Those troops were removed over time, including under diplomatic agreements.
The Global Times, a Chinese state-controlled tabloid, pounced on the Texas senator’s error as evidence of the irresponsibility of US politicians.
“The tweet saying US is stationing ‘30,000 troops’ in China’s Taiwan island could be a jaw-dropping mistake or hype from a ‘dotard’ senator, but it is shocking enough to see how irresponsible American politicians are on crucial issue of Taiwan Straits,” the tabloid said on Twitter.
Cornyn’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin tweeted that Taiwan authorities must explain Cornyn’s remark and added if it is true, China must “immediately launch a war to eliminate and expel US soldiers”.
Cornyn has been an outspoken proponent of boosting US ties with Taiwan and has introduced legislation to establish a partnership between the US National Guard and Taiwan’s defence forces.
Chinese officials consider the status of self-ruled Taiwan, to which nationalist troops fled after losing China’s civil war, one of its most bedrock policy issues, and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.
The United States is committed to ensuring Taiwan can defend itself under the Taiwan Relations Act.
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