普京获准在境外“动武”！俄乌大规模冲突一触即发？20220223 |《今日关注》CCTV中文国际
Feb 24, 2022
Feb 24, 2022
China Offers Restrained Response to Russian Attacks on Ukraine, Refuses to Call it an ‘Invasion’
China instead pointed blame at the U.S. for fanning the flame of conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Feb. 25 - China on Thursday offered a restrained response to Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, refusing to characterize the military action as an “invasion” and accusing the U.S. of fanning the flames.
In response to a question about whether China considers Russia’s actions an “invasion,” China’s Assistant Foreign Minister Hua Chunying said: “To make a suggestion, you may go ask the U.S. They started the fire and fanned the flame. How are they going to put out the fire now?”
After months of threats, Russia this week invaded Ukraine, with reports that its troops were approaching the outskirts of the capital city of Kyiv on Thursday.
Hua said that “China did not wish to see what happened in Ukraine today,” but she refused to characterize the attack as an “invasion.” She reiterated that China believes Russia and other parties have "legitimate security concerns.”
“As to the definition of ‘invasion,’ it brings us back to how we view the current situation in Ukraine,” Hua said at a press briefing, according to a government transcript. She noted that Ukraine has a “complicated historical background.”
“The current state of affairs is not what we would hope to see.” Hua said.
China is thought to be keeping a close eye on the situation and the Western response as it weighs its next move in its own increasingly contentious relationship with Taiwan, which it considers a breakaway province.
Hua also downplayed speculation that Beijing is secretly helping Russia.
“I believe that as a strong country, Russia doesn’t need China or other countries to provide weapons to it,” Hua said.
China isn’t the only country offering a tepid response to the news. In a speech on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett similarly did not condemn Russia’s attack, instead offering prayer for “peace and calm in Ukraine.”
“These are difficult and tragic moments, and our hearts are with the civilians that through no fault of their own have been thrust into this situation,” Bennett said.
Israel's foreign minister, on the other hand, condemned Russia’s attack and called it a “serious violation of the international order.” source from US News
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Hua Chunying (Chinese: 华春莹; born 24 April 1970) is a Chinese official and former diplomat serving as spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China since 2012 and as the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2021.[2] Hua was the fifth spokeswoman and 27th spokesperson since the position was established in the ministry in 1983.[3]
Commentary
Hua has criticized the US plea to release Pu Zhiqiang saying "I think lots of people have the same feeling with me, that some people in the United States have hearts that are too big and hands that are too long. Washington should address human rights problems at home and stop trying to be the world's policeman or judge."[11]
In 2021, she compared the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol with the 2019 storming of the Legislative Council.[12]
Social media
In February 2021, Hua said that many Western officials use Weibo and Wechat, and asked "Why can't Chinese people use Twitter or Facebook when foreigners can use Chinese social media platforms?"[14] Twitter and Facebook have been banned by the mainland Chinese government since 2009.[14]
quotes from Wikipedia
China says Taiwan is 'not Ukraine' as island raises alert level
Feb. 23 - Taiwan is "not Ukraine" and has always been an inalienable part of China, China's foreign ministry said on Wednesday, as Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen called for the island to beef up vigilance on military activities in response to the crisis.
The comments come after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson flagged the risk for Taiwan in a warning last week about the damaging worldwide consequences if Western nations failed to fulfil their promises to support Ukraine's independence.
China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has stepped up military activity near the self-governing island over the past two years, though Taiwan has reported no recent unusual manoeuvres by Chinese forces as tension over Ukraine has spiked.
Speaking in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying dismissed any link between the issues of Ukraine and Taiwan.
"Taiwan is not Ukraine," she said. "Taiwan has always been an inalienable part of China. This is an indisputable legal and historical fact."
The issue of Taiwan is one left over from the civil war, but China's integrity should never have been compromised and never has been compromised, Hua added.
The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the civil war to the Communists, who set up the People's Republic of China.
Taiwan's government strongly opposes China's territorial claims. Tsai says Taiwan is an independent state called the Republic of China, which remains Taiwan's official name.
All security and military units "must raise their surveillance and early warning of military developments around the Taiwan Strait," Tsai told a meeting of the working group on the Ukraine crisis set up by her National Security Council.
Taiwan and Ukraine are fundamentally different in terms of geostrategy, geography and international supply chains, she added, in details of the meeting provided by her office.
"But in the face of foreign forces intending to manipulate the situation in Ukraine and affect the morale of Taiwanese society, all government units must strengthen the prevention of cognitive warfare launched by foreign forces and local collaborators," it cited Tsai as saying.
The statement did not mention China by name, but the country is the most significant military threat that Taiwan faces.
Tsai has expressed "empathy" for Ukraine's situation because of the military threat the island faces from China. Source from Reuters
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Taiwan president expresses 'empathy' for Ukraine's situation
Feb. 23 - Taiwan is "not Ukraine" and has always been an inalienable part of China, China's foreign ministry said on Wednesday, as Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen called for the island to beef up vigilance on military activities in response to the crisis.
The comments come after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson flagged the risk for Taiwan in a warning last week about the damaging worldwide consequences if Western nations failed to fulfil their promises to support Ukraine's independence.
China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has stepped up military activity near the self-governing island over the past two years, though Taiwan has reported no recent unusual manoeuvres by Chinese forces as tension over Ukraine has spiked.
Speaking in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying dismissed any link between the issues of Ukraine and Taiwan.
"Taiwan is not Ukraine," she said. "Taiwan has always been an inalienable part of China. This is an indisputable legal and historical fact."
The issue of Taiwan is one left over from the civil war, but China's integrity should never have been compromised and never has been compromised, Hua added.
The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the civil war to the Communists, who set up the People's Republic of China.
Taiwan's government strongly opposes China's territorial claims. Tsai says Taiwan is an independent state called the Republic of China, which remains Taiwan's official name.
All security and military units "must raise their surveillance and early warning of military developments around the Taiwan Strait," Tsai told a meeting of the working group on the Ukraine crisis set up by her National Security Council.
Taiwan and Ukraine are fundamentally different in terms of geostrategy, geography and international supply chains, she added, in details of the meeting provided by her office.
"But in the face of foreign forces intending to manipulate the situation in Ukraine and affect the morale of Taiwanese society, all government units must strengthen the prevention of cognitive warfare launched by foreign forces and local collaborators," it cited Tsai as saying.
The statement did not mention China by name, but the country is the most significant military threat that Taiwan faces.
Tsai has expressed "empathy" for Ukraine's situation because of the military threat the island faces from China. Source from Reuters
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UK sees threat to Taiwan if West does not support Ukraine
Taiwan president expresses 'empathy' for Ukraine's situation
Book review: Dispatches from a troubled region
This thoroughly researched book examines the marine degradation in the South China Sea and the major players who can do something about it
By Bradley Winterton / Contributing reporter
Taiwan is one of seven nations laying claims of one kind or another to islands in the South China Sea. “Islands” is hardly the correct term — they are in reality sand-banks, atolls, shallows and coral reefs, but they have many natural resources and lay astride major shipping lanes. China has claimed that they all lie within its territorial waters.
These islets are in two groups, the Paracels (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) to the north and the Spratlys (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) to the south. Taiwan’s interest is largely in the Paracels, as is that of the Philippines, with Brunei, Vietnam and Malaysia focusing on the southern region.
But this book isn’t primarily political in its focus. Rather, it’s concerned with marine degradation in the whole region as observed by the author from his experiences on a Vietnamese fishing boat, or “cruising yawl” to use a phrase mariners of Joseph Conrad’s generation would have been familiar with.
This important book appears just as 100 nations agreed at the Brest Summit to take action to curb illegal fishing and the plastic pollution of the world’s oceans.
Shao Kwang-Tsao (邵廣昭), a retired researcher at Academia Sinica’s Biodiversity Research Center, has studied the “coral cathedrals” beneath the Spratleys, prompting former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to propose a “Spratley Initiative,” which would have recognized the entire area as an environmental protection zone... click to read more
Taiwan Foreign Minister Calls US Help Critical to Deterring War with China
Feb. 24 - As Taiwan continues to face a military threat from China, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said this week the Taiwanese government continues to focus on its “asymmetric defense” capability — including U.S. assistance — to make it an unattractive target, despite its limited military power.
Taiwan’s current strategy is to make certain “China will understand it will pay a very heavy price if it initiates conflict against Taiwan,” Wu said during a virtual event hosted by the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University.
Speaking with former U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Wu argued for continued U.S. support of Taiwan through arms sales, military exchanges, shared intelligence, and freedom of navigation exercises in the Taiwan Strait.
“We want the people here in Taiwan to be able to defend themselves if China is going to launch a war against Taiwan,” Wu said.
Taiwan has lived under the threat of military action by China since China’s Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang fled the mainland after losing the Chinese civil war in 1949. While the conflict has remained largely a stalemate since then — with Beijing continuing to claim Taiwan as a province — an aggressive military modernization campaign by China means it could be able to attack Taiwan as early as 2027, according to the U.S. Defense Department.,, click to read more
