China has begun its second day of military drills targeting Taiwan, in what it says is punishment for “separatist acts” after the inauguration of its new president on Monday.

The exercises, which involve Chinese military units from the air force, rocket force, navy, army, and coast guard, were announced suddenly on Thursday morning, with maps showing five approximate target areas in the sea surrounding Taiwan’s main island. Other areas also targeted Taiwan’s offshore islands, which are close to the Chinese mainland.

China’s defence ministry said the drills on Friday were testing its military’s ability to “seize power” and occupy key areas, in line with Beijing’s ultimate goal of annexing Taiwan. Taiwan’s government and people reject the prospect of Chinese rule, but China’s ruler Xi Jinping has not renounced the use of force to take the island. Western intelligence has claimed Xi has told the People’s Liberation Army to be capable of an invasion by 2027.

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  • @ghostdoggtv
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    37 months ago

    Israel is in the middle of throwing a hissy fit because western populations don’t like what we’re seeing done to Palestine. As soon as we take our weapons away from them they’ll switch to Russian and Chinese systems and Russia is already two feet into round 2 of an attempted genocide of Ukrainians, specifically Crimean Tatars and other historic groups with stronger ties to Kievan Rus than the muscovites.

      • @ghostdoggtv
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        -27 months ago

        That doesn’t really follow, Russia has plenty to gain from an Israeli defection away from the west. Those “enemies” are a red herring

        • @Linkerbaan
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          17 months ago

          Russia is allied with Iran already.

          As you might have heard Iran is not a fan of israel.

    • @andrewth09
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      7 months ago

      (1) I think you are underestimating how close Israel and the US are due to the billions we spend on their defense. It will evidently take more than genocide (or perceived genocide) to meaningfully deteriorate US/Israel relations to the point Israel starts aligning against the US alongside US adversaries. While western populations might be opposed to Israeli recent actions, no US foreign policies have meaningful changed.

      (2) Israel is the definition of a soft power country. The type of games China and Russia play are of a whole different league. Russia and China can start a great power conflict with the EU and the US. Israel probably couldn’t fight France without foreign support.