On Thursday, Taiwan said that Communist China fired a number of Dongfeng series ballistic missiles into waters by Taiwan’s northeast and southwest.
BREAKING: @MoNDefense just confirmed that PLA fired several DF ballistic missiles into Taiwan’s northeast and southwest waters starting from 13:46 local time. In response, the ministry has launched defence systems and condemns irrational actions which undermine regional peace.
— Tingting Liu 劉亭廷 (@tingtingliuTVBS) August 4, 2022
Other reports said the Taiwanese government asserted that Communist China had fired two missiles from the nearby Matsu Islands.
BREAKING – TAIWAN SPOTTED TWO MISSILES LAUNCHED BY CHINA NEAR OUTLYING ISLANDS OF MATSU AT AROUND 2 P.M. LOCAL TIME – INTERNAL GOV REPORT
— Yimou Lee (@YimouLee) August 4, 2022
Further reports stated that roughly ten Chinese navy ships crossed the Taiwan Strait median line.
#TAIWAN SOURCE BRIEFED ON THE MATTER: ABOUT 10 CHINESE NAVY SHIPS TEMPORARILY CROSSED TAIWAN STRAIT MEDIAN LINE AND REMAIN CLOSE IN THE AREA FROM WED NIGHT TO THUR MIDDAY
— Yimou Lee (@YimouLee) August 4, 2022
Meanwhile, President Biden’s administration reportedly has been lobbying against a bill that would support Taiwan by naming it a major non-NATO ally, according to people familiar with the matter. The bill would give $4.5 billion in security aid and support its presence in international organizations.
Although one of the sponsors of the bill is New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) proclaimed, “The White House has significant concerns. … I have significant concerns,” according to Bloomberg. Murphy confirmed the Foreign Relations panel is stalling the bill; it was to have been voted on Wednesday.
Co-sponsor Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) commented, “It’s a miscalculation of how to keep the world in order. At every turn they take the weakest path.”
“If you put this on the floor of the Senate it would pass overwhelmingly,” he added.
Before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan this week, China’s foreign ministry issued a protest to the United States, threatening that a visit “seriously infringes upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
China’s defense ministry said it would launch “targeted military operations,” France 24 reported, adding, “The Chinese military announced joint air and sea drills near Taiwan starting on Tuesday night and test launch of conventional missiles in the sea east of Taiwan, with Chinese state news agency Xinhua describing live-fire drills and other exercises around Taiwan from Thursday to Sunday.”
Last Thursday, according to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Chinese leader Xi Jinping threatened the U.S. in a conversation with President Joe Biden about America’s ties to Taiwan. “Those who play with fire will perish by it. It is hoped that the U.S. will be clear-eyed about this,” the Chinese statement said Xi warned.
On Tuesday, Max Baucus, former President Barack Obama’s U.S. Ambassador to China, told CNN, “Poor Joe Biden. He looks weak because he either told her [Pelosi] not to go and it looks weak to the Chinese guys or he’s weak because he told her not to go and she went anyway. And that makes us look a little bit weak to the Chinese.”
“I got to tell you, during the time I was serving in Beijing, one thing I really learned: Chinese understand strength better than do people in any other country, and they could smell weakness 100 miles away,” he added. “We’ve got to be strong but strong in the best sense.”