A Far-Flung Taiwan Island Risks Triggering a U.S.-China Clash Bloomberg 9 hrs ago Kari Lindberg and Cindy Wang
(Bloomberg) When 28 Chinese warplanes streaked through the skies around Taiwan on Tuesday the largest such incursion this year they followed a pattern that has generated alarm among U.S. and Taiwanese military planners.
Some of the People’s Liberation Army planes, including bombers, fighter jets and surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, flew east from the Chinese coast around the southern tip of Taiwan. The rest broke off and briefly darted further south toward tiny Pratas Island in the South China Sea before turning back.
Far-flung Taiwan island Pratas risks triggering a US-China clash straitstimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from straitstimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The US will find it hard to change its deliberate ambiguity over whether it will come to Taiwan's defence, a former Nato commander has said. The US has long refrained from outlining how it would respond in a potential war between Taiwan and mainland China in the hope that the uncertainty will force Beijing to stay cautious and discourage Taipei from declaring independence. James Stavridis, a retired US Navy admiral who was Nato's supreme allied.