The State Department on Friday refused to detail what “red lines” the U.S. would draw with respect to China’s support for Russia amid its deadly invasion in Ukraine.

President Biden warned Chinese President Xi Jinping in a call Friday morning that there would be “consequences” if Beijing provides Moscow with “material support” while Russia continues its deadly campaign against its southern neighbor.

But when pressed by reporters as to what “red lines” the White House would draw the State Department was light on answers.

“I wouldn’t want to get into any hypotheticals,” deputy spokesperson Jalina Porter said. “What we have done is we’ve encouraged our allies and partners and the international community to band together to condemn this senseless war that Russia has gotten itself into. I have nothing else here at this time.”

China has drawn international ire for its refusal to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin’s deadly and illegal invasion of Ukraine.

A readout from the Chinese government following the call with Biden once again fell short of criticizing Putin’s actions and instead said, “China stands for peace and opposes war.”

THERE IS ‘LITTLE EVIDENCE’ SYRIA FIGHTERS HEADED TO UKRAINE DESPITE RUSSIAN RECRUITING ATTEMPT: CENTCOM
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/syria-fighters-ukraine-russian-recruiting-attempt-centcom

The statement said that Xi made clear that China advocates for adhering to international law and charters established under the United Nations.

But Xi apparently also called on the U.S. and NATO to “jointly support Russia and Ukraine in having dialogue” to end the war.

China has been widely criticized for its refusal to join the U.S. and NATO, along with nations like Japan, Australia and New Zealand, to hit Moscow with steeper sanctions in an attempt to staunch Russian advances.

Putin claimed in the lead-up to his attack that he was concerned over a growing NATO presence in Europe and attempts by Ukraine to join the 30-member alliance, which would have theoretically permitted military equipment to be closer to Russian borders.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP https://www.foxnews.com/apps-products

The U.S. and European officials have dismissed this argument and pointed to a series of steps that Ukraine would have needed to accomplish in order to join NATO.

But China has given credence to Putin’s concerns. On Friday, Xi argued the U.S. and NATO should hold talks “with Russia to address the crux of the Ukraine crisis and ease the security concerns of both Russia and Ukraine.”

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/state-dept-refuses-red-line-china-russia-ukraine

The post State Dept. refuses to detail ‘red line’ if China provides support to Russia amid war in Ukraine first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

During his visit Tuesday to the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declared Moscow’s stance on the issue.

“Russia, like the overwhelming majority of other countries, considers Taiwan to be part of the People’s Republic of China,” Lavrov said. “We have proceeded and will proceed from this premise in our foreign policy.”

Only 14 countries today, along with the Vatican, have diplomatic relations with Taipei. Even the U.S. maintains only informal relations with the island nation since recognizing Beijing in 1979, three decades after the Communist victory in a civil war drove nationalists into exile across the Taiwan Strait. The Soviet Union quickly sided with the new fellow Communist power, though Moscow and Beijing would soon develop their own feud that lasted the remainder of the Cold War.

But today, China and Russia are closer than ever, and this year celebrated the 20th anniversary of their 2001 Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation that redefined their relationship. These ties have grown especially warm in recent years as both found common ground in countering a mutual rival: the United States.

As the U.S. has turned its sights toward the Asia-Pacific region, especially since former President Donald Trump’s administration, Lavrov and other Russian officials have more readily criticized U.S. coalition-building with Australia, India and Japan under the banner of a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Lavrov has recently been voicing his opposition to those efforts.

“The Indo-Pacific concept is aimed at breaking up this system that relied on the need to respect the indivisibility of security,” Lavrov told a defense and foreign policy conference last week, “and has openly proclaimed that its chief objective is containing China.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian praised Lavrov’s remarks days later, and on Monday also lauded Russian military expert Ivan Konovalov’s criticism over the behavior of U.S. and partnered navies in the Asia-Pacific region after a U.S. submarine collided with a still-unidentified object in the South China Sea.

During that same press briefing, Zhao shared his position on what he saw as Washington’s unhelpful actions targeting Moscow in Europe, where a new Russia-Germany gas pipeline known as Nord Stream 2 has drawn criticism from U.S. officials concerned about energy independence.

Over the weekend, Lavrov said the U.S. “is not hiding it and is straightforward” about pitting Russia and European powers against one another, and Zhao took the opportunity to support Moscow’s stance on Monday.

“It is well-known that the Nord Stream 2 project shows energy complementarity between Russia and Europe, and would help resolve the European energy crisis,” Zhao said. “The U.S., however, to serve its own geopolitical interests and monopolize the European energy market, spares no effort in disrupting and hobbling relevant projects to undermine the interests of Russia and Europe and their cooperation. This wins no support.”

He then linked the U.S. approach on the pipeline with that which it took in the Asia-Pacific, saying “the U.S. is adept at politicizing issues in all means and would hurt others indiscriminately, including its allies and partners, for its own interests.”

He argued that more nations are beginning to share this perception.

“We believe more countries, with their eyes wide open, will oppose the U.S. hegemonic approach featuring politicization and a sense of supremacy in pursuit of self-interests at the expense of others,” Zhao said.

However, as both Beijing and Moscow’s relations with Washington have deteriorated, each has attempted to stabilize its ties with the top world power.

On Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov met with U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland in Moscow, where an attempt by the Russians was said to have been made to roll back tit-for-tat sanctions targeting one another’s diplomatic missions.

“The officials discussed the status and prospects of bilateral relations,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a readout. “They paid special attention to the operation of the diplomatic missions on each other’s territory. Mr. Ryabkov emphasized that the hostile anti-Russian actions will not remain unanswered although Moscow does not seek to further escalate tensions. He suggested removing all restrictions that both sides have introduced in the past few years.”

And Ryabkov warned that continued tensions would only serve to make life more difficult for both parties.

“Ms. Nuland was told that the continuation of Washington’s line toward confrontation on the bilateral agenda and in the context of acute international and regional problems can only result in the further degradation of Russian-US relations,” according to the Russian side. “It is necessary to adopt a realistic approach and build bilateral ties on the principles of equality and mutual consideration of each other’s interests.”

When it comes to China, two notable interactions have occurred over the past month. Last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden spoke via telephone, and last Wednesday Chinese Communist Party Central Foreign Affairs Commission Director Yang Jiechi met virtually with U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Tensions appear to have somewhat eased on the surface amid this communication, but core areas of contention exist, with Taiwan identified by both sides as the primary issue.

Under both Trump and Biden, the U.S. has gradually expanded its informal support for Taiwan, including in the security realm. Taipei officials, such as Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, have also increased their ambitions for challenging the “one-China” near-consensus that exists among the international community.

Responding to Wu’s arguments that United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 that passed Taipei’s U.N. seat to Beijing in 1971 does not preclude Taiwan from participating in the U.N, Zhao said during his daily press briefing on Friday “the remarks of some politician in Taiwan are just nonsense.”

“There is only one China in the world, the Taiwan region is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory, and the government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China,” Zhao said. “This is a basic fact recognized by the international community. Our position of adhering to the one-China principle will remain unchanged; our attitude of rejecting ‘two Chinas’, ‘one China, one Taiwan’ and ‘Taiwan independence’ is not to be challenged, and our resolve of upholding national sovereignty and territorial integrity is unswerving.”

Zhao also emphasized that Taiwan was a province of China and therefore not qualified from participating independently in international organizations such as the U.N. And he reiterated Beijing’s commitment to reintegrating Taiwan under mainland rule, a pledge Xi has vowed to achieve through diplomacy or force, if neccesary.

“We believe that the just cause of the Chinese government and Chinese people to uphold national sovereignty and territorial integrity, oppose secession and achieve reunification will continue to win understanding and support of the U.N. and its member states,” Zhao said.

That same day, the Chinese military’s official online portal carried a commentary by the official military newspaper, the People’s Liberation Army Daily, underlining the need to achieve reunification.

“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has firm will, full confidence, and sufficient capabilities to thwart all external interference and separatist acts of ‘Taiwan independence’ and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the commentary read. “If the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces dared to split Taiwan from China in any name and by any means, the People’s Army will resolutely crush it at all costs.”

The commentary also argued for an even more urgent need to focus on this point.

“The officers and soldiers of the entire army must increase their sense of anxiety and responsibility for their missions, focus on fighting, focus on all tasks, and have the ambition to strengthen the army and rejuvenate the army,” the commentary read. “The high level of vigilance ensures that when the party and the people need it, they will come when they are called, they will be able to fight, and they will be victorious.”

Successive U.S. administrations have deliberately avoided making any overt pledges to defend Taiwan in the event of Chinese military action.

Asked about the U.S. planned response to a hypothetical Chinese incursion a day after his online talks with Jang, Sullivan replied, “Let me just say this, we are going to take action now to try to prevent that day from ever coming to pass.”

China and Russia have no formal military alliance, and both sides have said there were no plans to adopt such a framework, even as their defense ties continue to increase. But the two nations have pursued an increasing number of joint exercises, including large-scale drills in August focused on counterterrorism in northwestern China at a time of growing instability as U.S. troops left a two-decade conflict in neighboring Afghanistan, one of a number of regional and international issues on which Beijing and Moscow have stepped up collaboration.

And in yet another display of aligned interests, the two countries released a joint statement on the Biological Weapons Convention, in which “they emphasize that the United States’ and its allies’ overseas military biological activities (over 200 U.S. biological laboratories are deployed outside its national territory, which function in opaque and non-transparent manner) cause serious concerns and questions among the international community over its compliance with the BWC.”

This point has been especially promoted by China since the emergence of U.S. suspicions regarding a potential role played by the Wuhan Virological Institute in the outbreak of COVID-19, a disease first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan. A U.S. intelligence report commissioned by President Biden came to an inconclusive finding as to whether the pathogen may have appeared naturally or accidentally leaked out of the facility, but the probe has only further damaged U.S.-China relations.

As his first year in office draws to a close, Biden has already met with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a June bilateral summit Geneva, and discussions are underway for a potential virtual talk with Xi, though no official date has yet been confirmed.

“I don’t have any update at this point,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Tuesday. “It’s just something that we’re working through and in discussions about at a staff level.”

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/russia-taiwan-part-china-partners-align-around-world-1638170?piano_t=1

The post Russia Says Taiwan is Part of China as Two Powers Further Align Against U.S. first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

China, the world’s second-largest arms producer, saw its worldwide exports of weapons drop between 2016 and 2020 – but it imported more weapons from Russia in the same period.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says arms exports by China over these five years dropped by 7.8% compared with the period from 2011 to 2015. The decline saw China arms exports account for 5.2% of all international arms exports between 2016 and 2020.

Pakistan, Bangladesh, Algeria, and Myanmar were the largest buyers of China weapons.

China was the largest arms importer in East Asia, according to the institute. China accounted for 4.7% of international arms imports in the period.

In 2018 China paid $1.57 billion for weapons – most of which came from Russia. At one time, Russia accounted for 99% of all of China’s arms imports. China was the world’s third-leading arms importer in 2018 after Saudi Arabia and Australia.

“Russia substantially increased its arms transfers to China, Algeria, and Egypt between 2011 and 2015 and 2016 and 2020 but this did not offset the large drop in its arms exports to India,” institute researcher Alexandra Kuimova said.

China threats were the reason Asia and Oceania are the largest importing regions for arms from 2016 to 2020. The institute said the region accounted for 42% of sales.

India, Australia, and South Korea were the biggest arms importers in the region not allied with China.

“For many states in Asia and Oceania, a growing perception of China as a threat is the main driver for arms imports,” said institute senior researcher Siemon Wezeman. “More large imports are planned and several states in the region are also aiming to produce their own arms.”

China, however, remains the world’s second-largest arms producer after the U.S. The institute said one reason for this is because China had modernized its arms industry since the 1960s – and especially since 1999 with the growth of its economy.

The U.S. accounted for 37% of all international arms exports over the past five years. Saudi Arabia, the world’s top arms buyer, was responsible for a quarter of those sales.

Source: https://www.btimesonline.com/articles/147387/20210318/china-buying-more-weapons-russia-arms-exports-fall.htm

The post China Buying More Weapons From Russia; Arms Exports Fall first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

After recognizing National Assembly head Juan Guaidó’s claim to the presidency on Wednesday, President Donald Trump and his administration have laid out measures intended to force Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to cede power, including new sanctions against the Socialist-led country’s state-run oil company, at a time the nation is already suffering from a debilitating financial crisis. Washington’s moves have been welcomed by allies, but condemned by rivals such as Moscow and Beijing. The latter said Tuesday that it was “committed to the principle of noninterference in other countries’ internal affairs.”

“We believe that Venezuela’s affairs must and can only be chosen and determined by its own people, and we oppose unilateral sanctions,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang told a press briefing. “History has taught us that external interference or sanctions, instead of helping solve problems, can only complicate matters.”

“Sanctions on Venezuela imposed by the relevant country will adversely impact local people’s well being and should be held accountable for all the ensuing serious consequences,” Geng added, noting that “China will continue to advance across-the-board cooperation with Venezuela to deliver more benefits to the people in both countries.”

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army and National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela personnel take part in the opening ceremony of the International Army Games in Guangshui, China, on July 30, 2017. The Venezuelan crisis has split the international community, with China and Russia among the major powers opposing U.S. intervention .AFP/GETTY IMAGES

That same day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned the U.S. sanctions as “illegitimate” and “cynical,” pledging that his country “along with other responsible members of the global community will do everything to support the legal government of the president.” One day earlier, the Kremlin had denied sending new military assets to protect Maduro, but joined Iran in warning the U.S. against taking any actions in Venezuela, where millions have fled deteriorating economic conditions and alleged human rights abuses.

Russia considers Venezuela to be a close ally in the West and last month Moscow sent an air force delegation to conduct training over the waters of the Caribbean. The moves, which drew Cold War-era comparisons, as they accompanied the White House’s vows to dismiss a landmark nuclear missile treaty and warming ties between the Kremlin and Soviet ally Cuba, drew a negative response from Washington.

Beijing and Moscow have increasingly attempted to align their foreign policies in recent years in the face of what they see as Washington’s hegemony abroad. The U.S. has, for its part, accused its top two global competitors of undermining a “rules-based international order.” The U.S. has also sought to counter growing Chinese and Russia influence in Latin America, where Washington has for decades intervened against leftist and socialist movements, including an alleged CIA role in the 2002 coup attempt against Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez.

China and Russia were joined by leftist-led Latin American nations Bolivia, Cuba, El Salvador and Nicaragua, as well as Dominica, Suriname, Saint Kitts, Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean sphere, and Belarus, Cambodia, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Laos, the Palestinian government, South Africa, Syria and Turkey abroad in supporting Maduro. Nearly every other Latin American state has sided with the U.S., as have Albania, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Haiti, Israel, Kosovo, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.

Others, such as Mexico and Uruguay, have remained neutral and offered to mediate between Maduro and Guaidó. India and the European Union have also called for calm and sought dialogue between the Venezuelan rivals as the feud grew increasingly precarious.

Venezuela’s National Assembly head Juan Guaidó and President Nicolás Maduro (from left). On January 23, Guaidó declared himself the country’s “acting president,” accusing Maduro’s ruling United Socialist Party of having rigged last year’s elections, which the opposition boycotted.YURI CORTEZ/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

As White House national security adviser John Bolton announced the sweeping sanctions against Maduro’s government Monday, he held in his hand a notepad with what appeared to be the words “5,000 troops to Colombia” written on it. U.S. right-wing-led allies Brazil and Colombia surround Venezuela, which rallied troops as Bolton reiterated Trump’s promise that “all options were on the table” in response to dealing with Venezuela.

The U.S. has decided to recall some of its diplomatic staff in Venezuela, while keeping others there, despite Maduro’s call for them to be expelled, a decision that the State Department contended he no longer had the legal authority to make. Bolton warned of a “significant response” should any harm come to U.S. citizens, as Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino declared that armed forces supporting the government were “ready to die” to defend the country against “constant attacks from American imperialism.”

Guaidó told BBC News on Tuesday that his “duty is to call for free elections because there is an abuse of power and we live in a dictatorship.” Meanwhile, Maduro told Trump “hands off Venezuela” in an English-language message.

In response to Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab’s calls for Guaidó to be banned from exiting the country and for his funds to be frozen, Bolton also warned of “serious consequences for those who attempt to subvert democracy and harm Guaido” in a tweet.

This article has been updated with a tweet from White House national security adviser John Bolton.

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/china-back-venezuela-warns-consequences-1309716?piano_t=1

The post China joins Russia in backing Venezuela against U.S. moves, warns of ‘serious consequences’ to Donald Trump’s plan first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

China’s military will for the first time participate with Russia in massive joint exercises that are expected to be the largest war games since the fall of the Soviet Union as the U.S. rivals look to showcase their deepening ties.

The annual Vostok military drills will kick off late this month and run through mid-September, the Chinese Defense Ministry announced Monday. Military forces from the two countries will hold joint exercises at the Tsugol training range in Russia’s Trans-Baikal region, near where the borders of Russia, China and eastern Mongolia meet, from Sept. 11 to 15, the ministry added.

China will send around 3,200 troops, along with more than 900 pieces of weaponry and 30 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, to conduct strike and counterattack training, among other drills, it said.

“The drills are aimed at consolidating and developing the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, deepening pragmatic and friendly cooperation between the two armies, and further strengthening their ability to jointly deal with varied security threats, which are conducive to safeguarding regional peace and security,” the ministry said.

“The military exercises are not targeted at a third party,” it added.

The drills will also include the Mongolian military.

The exercises will have an “unprecedented scale both in territory and number of troops involved,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a statement.

Shoigu said it would be the “largest event since the Zapad-81 maneuvers,” which saw between 100,000 and 150,000 troops take part in September 1981, according to the CIA.

The September dates announced by China overlap with the Russian-sponsored Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. Chinese President Xi Jinping is among the leaders expected to attend this year’s version of the annual event, hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and both leaders could make the trip to observe the joint drills.

In a commentary translated into English and posted to the Chinese Defense Ministry’s website Tuesday, an anonymous author noted the importance of closer Sino-Russian military ties.

“China’s participation indicates, to some extent, the subtle changes in its estimation of global landscapes,” the commentary said. “Especially considering the unscrupulous provocations in the South China Sea and on the Taiwan issue, China must prepare for the worst.”

Washington has blasted Beijing for building a series of military outposts in the contested South China Sea. Fearing they could be used to restrict free movement in the waterway, the U.S. has conducted a number of so-called freedom of navigation operations in the area, which includes vital sea lanes through which about $3 trillion in global trade passes each year.

Both countries have also clashed over self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing, which views the islands part of its own territory, awaiting reunification. Although the U.S. does not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, it is its most powerful ally and top arms supplier.

“China-Russia alliance against provocations is not meaningless,” Tuesday’s commentary said. “As the world situation evolves, China-Russia traditional friendship becomes increasingly important. After all, it is utterly unpredictable when their opponents will take actions.”

Alexander Gabuev, chair of the Russia in the Asia-Pacific program at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said Tuesday that Sino-Russia military ties have deep consequences for the West, the most immediate being the exports of sophisticated hardware like the S-400 air defense system and advanced Su-35 fighter to be used by China in hot spots like the South China Sea, Taiwan Strait and near the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which are also claimed by China, where they are known as the Diaoyus.

By lumping Russia and China together in last year’s U.S. National Security Strategy, “as well as by taking an “adversarial” approach to both Moscow and Beijing at the same time, “the U.S. is fueling rapprochement between the two. It’s symbolic, but starting to move beyond symbolism,” Gabuev wrote on Twitter.

Source: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/08/22/asia-pacific/chinese-military-join-unprecedented-russian-joint-exercises-first-time/

The post Chinese military to join ‘unprecedented’ Russian joint exercises for first time first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/941300/World-War-3-China-Russia-US-Vladimir-Putin-North-Korea

The post World War 3 fears rocket as Chinese minister voices unequivocal support for Russia first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.