#chinataiwan-tensions

#chinataiwan-tensions

China has accused two Taiwanese nationals of leading a smuggling operation involving a Chinese-crewed vessel that damaged subsea cables in February, in an incident that has stoked tensions between the countries. The public security bureau in Weihai, in China's eastern Shandong province, said on Wednesday that a probe into the incident showed that two Taiwanese men had been operating the ship involved the Togo-registered Hong Tai 58 as part of a longstanding operation smuggling frozen goods into China.

The Taiwan president, Lai Ching-te, said there was no room for compromise on national security, and he was committed to boosting Taiwan's defences in conjunction with US support. This is not an ideological struggle, nor a unification vs independence' debate, but a struggle to defend democratic Taiwan' and refuse to submit to being China's Taiwan'. Lai and defence minister, Wellington Koo, announced the spending bump an increase of at least $8bn on what had previously been flagged on Wednesday after a briefing from the national security council.

While the world's attention is fixed on Ukraine another flashpoint could ignite an even greater conflict. Just 112 miles from China's coast lies Taiwan, an island of 23 million people facing 1.4 billion people and the world's largest army. "For Beijing, it's not just territory, it's destiny. For Washington, it's a red line." "Taiwan's military posture is built around a core strategic principle known as the porcupine strategy or asymmetric defence. The goal is not to defeat the numerically superior PLA of China in a conventional war, but to make an invasion so difficult, so costly and so bloody that Beijing is deterred from ever attempting it."