Biden about attack on Taiwan by China

The following is a beaut:-

President Joe Biden said on Thursday the United States has a "commitment" to defend Taiwan in the face of growing military and political pressure towards the island from Beijing.

In a move that appeared to be a break with official protocol, Biden said at a town hall event hosted by CNN that the United States would come to the defense of Taiwan, which has complained of mounting military and political pressure from Beijing to accept Chinese sovereignty.

While Washington is required by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, it has long followed a policy of "strategic ambiguity" on whether it would intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese attack.

Differences

In August 2021, a US official said policy on Taiwan had not changed after Biden appeared to suggest Washington would defend the island if it were attacked.

"China, Russia and the rest of the world knows we're the most powerful military in the history of the world," Biden said, as he jumped to the defense of the US' credentials.

"What you do have to worry about is whether or not they're going to engage in activities that would put them in a position where they may make a serious mistake," Biden said.

"I don't want a cold war with China. I just want China to understand that we're not going to step back, that we're not going to change any of our views."

Sounds fine - but nobody believes the old dementia idiot - especially not China and the countries om the Pacific Ocean under threat from, China.    The NATO allies lost faith in Biden over the Afghanistan fiasco - so they will also just laugh behind their hands and  confirm that Biden is even in the USA regarded as a front and not the real decisionmaker on anything. 

The USA might have the most potent military in the world but when you you have a weak "President" in the White House and a bunch of political hacks in charge at the Pentagon and political "Generals" who are more interested in warning the enemy of potential military action then the power of the military is ZERO.

Bunch of "JERKS" all of them.

It’s a huge mistake to even raise the possibility of an attack on Taiwan…it makes it seem plausible. It should be left in the category  of an unthinkable act, not something that could happen.

And then saying the US will respond puts the world in a dangerous place. We never responded to Hong Kong and the Hong Kong people and the world are better off. There simply isn’t enough at stake for the West to risk WW3 to militarily  defend Taiwan. 

And whatever we decide needs to be discussed behind closed doors with the Chinese….there are strong communication links with all levels of Chinese society, supposedly Biden was going to use those channels. Instead we have him motor mouthing publically and off script.

This man makes Obama look wise. .

Mozart

In essence  you are correct - but the threat against Taiwan and  South Korea is very real and he weak leadership of Biden is not helping anybody.   Yes he should have kept quiet about the issue - but then he has been corrupted by the Chinese and his talking is meaningless,  since diplomatic discussions with China  would always favor the Chinese.    One has to wonder whether Biden would  even dare to discuss the topic  with China at all.      

Mozart

In essence  you are correct - but the threat against Taiwan and  South Korea is very real and he weak leadership of Biden is not helping anybody.   Yes he should have kept quiet about the issue - but then he has been corrupted by the Chinese and his talking is meaningless,  since diplomatic discussions with China  would always favor the Chinese.    One has to wonder whether Biden would  even dare to discuss the topic  with China at all.   

Biden is so weak - he may endanger peace in an effort to help him with his truggling public image.      

After the Afghanistan embarrassment, one can only imagine how much damage the USA would take, especially from a reputational point of view, if they did in fact do nothing if Taiwan were to be attacked by China.

All the Nato allies would question any future agreement or alliance with America, if they did not act against China.

I agree, this needs to be resolved behind closed doors, and not have some idiotic senile old guy, sprouting all these threats to the outside world.

Unfortunately such a delicate situation needs a very well informed, intelligent and strong minded leader and unfortunately USA elections choose the worst possible candidate. It is times like these that people should think (which they don't) when selecting leadership.

Nothing will surprise me, even the worst possible result only some sort of divine grace and intervention might save us all.

When Hitler invaded Poland, people were sitting on the edge hoping and believing that war could be avoided. This is far worse because of the type of weapons that both China and USA (and for that matter a host of countries have) are too ghastly to contemplate...this is not a place to have a war...there are no deserts, jungles and barren mountains here...some of worlds densest populations.

"This is far worse because of the type of weapons that both China and USA"

Apparently, the USA, and most of the world actually, were taken completely and utterly by surprise.... regarding the recent new hypersonic missiles which China sent up into orbit.....

This article is from Geoff Brumfiel, regarding national security:

"The simplest way to imagine this new weapon system is to imagine the space shuttle, put a nuclear weapon in the cargo bay and then don't bother with the landing gear," says Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. This hypersonic weapon launches briefly into orbit, "and it glides back to Earth just like the space shuttle, except for when it gets where it's going, it goes boom."

The new weapon would be significant because it could attack the U.S. from an unexpected direction, such as the South Pole. The United States' missile defenses and early-warning radars are pointed toward the North Pole, the standard route for intercontinental ballistic missiles, so the country would be vulnerable to a strike from the opposite direction.

Scary indeed

"But regardless of whether the weapon is real, China has been investing heavily in shorter-range hypersonic missiles. These skim through the upper atmosphere at more than five times the speed of sound and can also change direction during flight. Those properties give China an important advantage against missile defenses, says Tong Zhao, a senior fellow with the Carnegie Endowment in Beijing. "Given the capability for hypersonic missiles to maneuver during flight and given their rather fast speed, they can better penetrate missile defense systems," he says.

Zhao says that China sees U.S. missile defenses as a major threat. It has been building up its stockpile of shorter-range hypersonic weapons, which can be armed with either a nuclear or a conventional warhead. This new longer-distance weapon, if it was in fact tested, fits into that pattern"

"Zhao says that in the big picture, Chinese leadership wants to protect itself from what it sees as growing U.S. aggression: "China feels it needs a greater o verall military power, including a stronger nuclear power, to basically ensure that the U.S. wouldn't be able to interfere with Chinese internal matters."

This is a very interesting article:

Arms Race

Here is another article from the Financial Times

US Surprise

Yes, indeed , as I said too ghastly to contemplate, coupled with the other chaoses  in the world...anything could happen...

After the WW1 which was caused by a relatively minor incident in the context of total cost (the assassination of the Arch Duke Ferdinand of Austria by Bosnian Serb in Sarajevo, there was a wishful thinking amongst the world that another war was just not possible, until Hitler came along.

Both wars had a huge cost...another won't...just total destruction...it just requires one man's insanity. The situation is as unstable as nitro-glycerine is when frozen..

Here’s What Could Happen If China Invaded Taiwan - Bloomberg