A joint ministerial statement affirmed support for the alliance with the US and its war against Russia, the expanding conflict in the Middle East, and the US-war drive in the Indo-Pacific against China.
Introduction In tandem with its increasingly provocative coercive military measures directed against Taiwan, throughout the course of 2022, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) also ramped up its accompanying rhetoric. The PRC vigorously reasserted its irredentist sovereignty claims, decried alleged “separatist” activities by Taiwan’s political leaders and assailed “interference by external forces” (外部势力干涉); the latter elements are left unnamed but …