China Issues Veiled Warning to US Over Taiwan

January 23, 2023 — Voice of America News reports: “Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a veiled warning to the United States in his new year message to the country, stressing that China will be engaged in ‘serious struggles’ against separatism and interference in its relations with Taiwan, state media, CCTV and the Xinhua news agency reported Friday.

In a Lunar New Year reception in the Great Hall of the People attended by top party leaders in the Politburo, Xi said in a speech to the Chinese people that his party and the military have in the past year risen to the challenge of ‘high winds and choppy waters in the international situation,’ a reference he also made in his speech at the 20th Party Congress in a warning about what he saw as a hostile international environment.

In a subtle message that referred to the United States and its relations with Taiwan, Xi vowed to ‘resolutely carry out major struggles against separatism and interference’ and ‘firmly grasp the initiative in cross-strait relations,’ state television, CCTV and Xinhua reported.

He also pledged to ‘make more friends’ in the international arena and to actively engage in ‘major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics’ to ensure stability in a ‘turbulent international environment.’

In recent years, the leadership has increasingly emphasized the importance of asserting a China-centered diplomatic and historical narrative and a determination to shift away from a Western-dominated world order…”  (China will become a basic partner with Russia for the rapidly approaching battle of Armageddon – Revelation 16:16. Russia will lead invasion number one – Ezekiel 38 & 39. China will lead invasion number two – Revelation 16:12; Revelation 9:14 – 16. Then all nations will come against Jerusalem for the final invasion at which point Jesus will return to stop the bloodshed and set up his eternal kingdom upon earth – [He gathers] all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken… Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south – Zechariah 14:2 – 4. Then Psalm 2:6 occurs as God the Father says: …I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion [Jerusalem].  See the next four reports)

China Holds Large-Scale Joint Strike Drills Aimed at Taiwan

January 9, 2023 — Voice of America News reports: “The Chinese military held large-scale joint combat strike drills starting Sunday, sending war planes and navy vessels toward Taiwan, both the Chinese and Taiwanese defense ministries said.

The exercises coincided with the visit of a group of German lawmakers who landed in Taiwan on Monday morning. Leading the delegation is the Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, who leads the German Parliament’s Defense Committee.

The German lawmakers will meet with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, as well as Taiwan’s National Security Council head and the Mainland Affairs Council, which handles issues related to China.

China has stepped up its pressure on Taiwan’s military in recent years by sending warplanes or navy vessels on an almost-daily basis toward the self-ruled island. China claims sovereignty over the island, which split from the mainland in 1949 after a civil war…”

China’s air incursions into Taiwan zone doubled in 2022

January 2, 2023 — SinoDaily.com reports: “China’s warplane incursions into Taiwan’s air defence zone nearly doubled in 2022, with a surge in fighter jet and bomber sorties as Beijing intensified threats towards the island democracy.

Self-ruled Taiwan lives under constant threat of invasion. Communist Party rulers claim the island as part of China’s territory and have vowed to seize it one day.

Relations have been icy for years under President Xi Jinping, China’s most assertive leader in a generation.

But 2022 saw a deeper deterioration, as Xi’s military ramped up incursions and launched the largest war games in decades to protest against a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August.

China sent 1,727 planes into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) in 2022, according to an AFP database based on daily updates released by Taipei’s defence ministry.

That compares with around 960 incursions in 2021 and 380 in 2020.

Fighter jet sorties more than doubled from 538 in 2021 to 1,241 while incursions by bombers, including the nuclear-capable H6, went from 60 to 101…”

US Warship Sails Through Taiwan Strait, Angers China

January 6, 2023 — Voice of America News reports: “A U.S. warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Thursday, part of what the U.S. military calls routine activity but which China calls provocative.

In recent years, U.S. warships, and on occasion those from allied nations such as Britain and Canada, have sailed through the strait, drawing the ire of China, which claims Taiwan against the objections of its democratically elected government.

In a statement, the U.S. military said the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Chung-Hoon carried out the transit.

‘Chung-Hoon’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,’ the statement added.

In a statement, Liu Pengyu, spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington, said China firmly opposed the move and urged the United States to ‘immediately stop provoking troubles, escalating tensions and undermining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.’

‘U.S. warships frequently flex muscles in the name of exercising freedom of navigation. This is not about keeping the region free and open,’ the statement said…”

US vows to defend space with Japan, deploy mobile Marines as China worries grow

January 12, 2023 — SpaceWar.com reports: “The United States said Wednesday that attacks in space would invoke its defense treaty with Japan and announced the deployment of a more agile Marine unit on its ally’s soil as alarm grows over China.

Weeks after unveiling plans to ramp up security spending, Japan sent its defense and foreign ministers to Washington where the two countries issued a statement vowing to ‘modernize the alliance in order to address the increasingly severe security environment.’

The talks come two days before a visit by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is touring Group of Seven nations to kick off Japan’s leadership year of the elite club and earlier Wednesday in London also boosted defense ties with Britain.

As China makes rapid advances in satellites, the United States and Japan warned in their statement that ‘attacks to, from or within space present a clear challenge to the security of the alliance’ that could invoke Article Five of their mutual defense treaty, which considers an attack on one an attack on both.

The talks finalized a plan by the United States to send a so-called Marine Littoral Regiment, a more agile unit that can operate defenses both by sea and air, to Okinawa, the southern Japanese island strategically close to Taiwan…” 

Kim calls for ‘exponential increase’ of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal

January 2, 2023 — SpaceWar.com reports: “Kim Jong Un has called for an ‘exponential’ increase in North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, including mass producing tactical nuclear weapons and developing new missiles for nuclear counterstrikes, state media said Sunday.

In a report at the end of a key party meeting in Pyongyang, Kim said the country must ‘overwhelmingly beef up the military muscle’ in 2023 in response to what it called US and South Korean hostility, the official KCNA reported.

Claiming that Washington and Seoul were set on ‘isolating and stifling’ the North, Kim said his country would focus on the ‘mass-producing of tactical nuclear weapons’ and develop ‘another ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) system whose main mission is quick nuclear counterstrike’.

Such goals form the ‘main orientation’ of the 2023 nuclear and defence strategy, the report said.

Military tensions on the Korean peninsula rose sharply in 2022 as the North conducted sanctions-busting weapons tests nearly every month, including firing its most advanced ICBM ever…”  (North Korea marches with Russia and China for the war of the latter years and latter days – Ezekiel 38:8, 16.  Atomic bombs will produce global incineration – Psalms 97:3; Isaiah 66:15; Joel 2:3, 30; Zephaniah 1:18; Malachi 4:1; Revelation 8:7 and 9:18.)