TAIWAN CONTINUED – OVERNIGHT:  I said that we'd follow the Taiwan situation closely.  It is tense, it is dangerous, and a potential disaster for the United States.  From NEWSMAX: 

Taiwan's foreign minister is warning of war with China and is asking Australia for aid with intelligence, Australian Broadcasting reports.

The news comes after the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China flew dozens of sorties into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) beginning on Friday.

On ABC's "China Tonight," Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said that if the PLA launches an actual strike, Taiwan is ready to repel it.

"The defense of Taiwan is in our own hands, and we are absolutely committed to that," Wu said.
The statement comse after Taiwan sharply criticized China on Saturday after Beijing marked the founding of the People's Republic of China with the largest ever incursion by the Chinese air force into the island's air defense zone.

Taiwan, a democratically governed island that is claimed by China, has complained for more than a year of repeated missions near it by China's air force, often in the southwestern part of its air defense zone close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands.

Taiwanese fighters scrambled against 38 Chinese aircraft in two waves on Friday, the Taiwan Defence Ministry said. It said Taiwan sent combat aircraft to warn away the Chinese aircraft, while missile systems were deployed to monitor them.

"China has been wantonly engaged in military aggression, damaging regional peace," Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters on Saturday morning.

The first wave of incursions comprised 18 J-16 and four Su-30 fighter jets plus two nuclear-capable H-6 bombers and an anti-submarine aircraft, while the second had 10 J-16s, 2 H-6s and an early warning aircraft, the ministry said.

The first batch of Chinese aircraft all flew in an area close to the Pratas Islands, with the two bombers flying closest to the atoll, according to a map issued by the ministry.

The second group flew down into the Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan from the Philippines, a key waterway that links the Pacific with the disputed South China Sea.

And then there's this, a reaction from the United States to China's antics.  But does it have teeth?  From The Hill: 

The State Department said on Sunday that the U.S. is "very concerned" about China's "provocative military activity near Taiwan" following Beijing's most recent show of air power near the self-governing island.

"The United States is very concerned by the People’s Republic of China’s provocative military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilizing, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability. We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.

On Friday, China flew 38 military aircraft into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone, believed to be Beijing's largest military provocation seen yet.

On Saturday, it sent 30 warplanes toward Taiwan.

COMMENT:  Does anyone take the United States seriously, after the Afghan debacle?  What would we actually do in the face of Chinese escalation over Taiwan?   Denounce?  Sanction?  Refuse to order takeout?

And will the Democratic Party actually support strong action against a country that is admired, not scorned, by its left wing?

October 3, 2021