Nancy Pelosi has now left Taiwan and landed in Japan this morning.
But China didn’t wait long for her to leave to launch five ballistic missiles around Taiwan to protest the visit.
These are said to be live-fire drills, but I’m sure it felt like more than that to Taiwan.
China fired multiple missiles around Taiwan as it launched its largest ever military drills in waters off the island after U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit https://t.co/Whq7Yp5aIJ pic.twitter.com/3B90xp6eNg
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 4, 2022
BREAKING: China's military conduct long-range live-fire drills targeting designated areas on the eastern part of the Taiwan Strait after Pelosi visit pic.twitter.com/sdXXu3Kktl
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) August 4, 2022
This is the most provocative we’ve seen China with respect to Taiwan in the last two years.
I just read an article on Fox News this morning where both current and former officials are predicting that China will invade Taiwan before the 2024 elections, and probably sooner:
EXCLUSIVE: China could invade Taiwan within the next 18 months, current and former officials familiar with U.S. and allied intelligence told Fox News, suggesting a particularly “dangerous” window between the meeting of the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party this November and the next U.S. presidential election in 2024.
Two former senior officials told Fox News that the intelligence suggests China sees the potential opportunity for an amphibious assault and military invasion of Taiwan in that time frame.
“We have always had and always been aware that China has an ever-present, ever-evolving plan for an amphibious assault and military invasion of Taiwan. If they are not successful in reunifying politically, then they will do so with force,” one former senior intelligence official familiar with U.S. intelligence, and who has discussed intelligence belonging to a U.S. ally in the Indo-Pacific, told Fox News.
“What is different now is, we have intelligence that this has gone from an indefinite, nebulous scenario, to a belief that there is a window of opportunity in the next 18 months,” the official continued. “I don’t think that’s a coincidence that window of opportunity is within a Biden administration.”
This is not surprising in the least. In fact I think what would be surprising is if China doesn’t invade Taiwan. With America’s biggest coward-in-chief sitting in the Oval Office, China knows the time is now to invade. They’ve seen his cowardice with respect to Russia and Afghanistan and they know he won’t lift a finger to defend Taiwan if they threaten war with him.