Former Japanese prime minister provocatively visits Taiwan

In another provocative move directed at Beijing, former Japanese prime minister and virulent anti-China hawk Taro Aso recently visited Taiwan for three days. He met with senior government officials, including President Tsai Ing-wen and declared that Japan, the US and Taiwan should ramp up plans for war with mainland China.

Former Japanese prime minister provocatively visits Taiwan

Related:

China strongly condemns Japanese politician’s visit to Taiwan: FM spokesperson

Biden Again Says the US Would Defend Taiwan If China Attacks

Biden Again Says the US Would Defend Taiwan If China Attacks

Under the policy of strategic ambiguity, the US is not supposed to say one way or the other if it would intervene to defend Taiwan if China attacks.

Back in 2001, then-Senator Joe Biden criticized President George W. Bush for suggesting that the US would defend Taiwan, then later walking it back. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Biden wrote that “words matter” and said Bush hurt the credibility of the US by making such comments due to an “inattention to detail.”

That didn’t sound like a political gaffe to me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

US congressional delegation arrives in Taiwan

US congressional delegation arrives in Taiwan

As Markey’s delegation arrived in Taipei, Chinese fighter jets, bombers and airborne early warning aircraft departed for Thailand for joint exercises with the Royal Thai Air Force.

Meanwhile, the US is holding joint exercises in Indonesia with the Australian, Japanese, and Singaporean forces, while the Pentagon announced last week that the US Navy will conduct “air and maritime transits” through the Taiwan Strait in the coming weeks, while the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group will remain stationed in the region.

Related:

As US lawmakers make more provocative visits, China’s determination to solve Taiwan question sooner rather than later also rises

Several US lawmakers made a visit to the island of Taiwan via US military aircraft on Sunday. This is new provocation. On the same day, it’s revealed by the Taiwan side that China’s PLA sent 22 military aircraft and six warships for combat readiness security patrols in the Taiwan Straits and some of them crossed the so-called median line, which the mainland doesn’t recognize.

The Mess That Pelosi Made

In 2015, Robert Parry, the late investigative journalist and founder of Consortium News, wrote an article titled “The Mess that Nuland Made.” It summarized the aftermath of the 2014 coup in Ukraine that was engineered by Victoria Nuland, who served in Obama’s State Department and is back working for the Biden administration.

Nuland’s coup sparked widespread unrest in Ukraine, Russia taking Crimea, and the war in the eastern Donbas region. The day that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, the title of Parry’s salient article wouldn’t get out of my head. Nuland’s meddling in Ukraine reflected an overarching neocon, deep state agenda, but the chaos that has ensued since will always be her legacy, and her mess.

Now, as China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is lobbing missiles toward Taiwan and holding its largest-ever drills around the island, another woman that is a fixture of the establishment in Washington is to blame: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The Mess That Pelosi Made