U.S. MANIPULATING TO START WWIII IN ASIA – INSTEAD OF UKRAINE AS EUROPE BALKS AT A NUCLEAR DISASTER ZONE IN ITS BACKYARD? – RUSSIA PUTS ITS PACIFIC FLEET ON ‘HIGH ALERT’ – WHILE CHINA FIRES MISSILE INTERCEPTORS IN RARE TEST – EVEN AS BEIJING ADVISES PHILIPPINES GOVT TO OPPOSE TAIWAN INDEPENDENCE – ‘FACTS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS. OBVIOUSLY, THE U.S. INTENDS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE NEW EDCA SITES TO INTERFERE IN THE SITUATION ACROSS THE TAIWAN STRAIT TO SERVE ITS GEOPOLITICAL GOALS AND ADVANCE ITS ANTI-CHINA AGENDA AT THE EXPENSE OF PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE PHILIPPINES AND THE REGION AT LARGE’
Russia places Pacific fleet on ‘high alert’
Russia has switched its Pacific Navy fleet to full combat readiness mode as part of a surprise check, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has said. He explained that drills would be held aimed at preventing enemy forces from landing on Sakhalin Island and the southern coast of the Kuril Islands.
Addressing Russia’s top brass on Friday, Shoigu said that the “Pacific Fleet was put on high alert at full strength” at 9am local time that same day. He added that the exercise’s objective is to enhance the “armed forces’ ability to repel aggression by a potential adversary from the ocean and sea.”
According to Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, special emphasis is being placed on ensuring the strategic nuclear submarines’ combat readiness.
Apart from preventing enemy landings, the fleet will also have to locate and destroy enemy submarines and warship strike groups, and land equipment, Shoigu noted. In the meantime, air defense units are expected to cover potentially dangerous areas.
The Russian Air Force is taking part in the maneuvers alongside the Navy.
Tokyo disputes Russian sovereignty over four of the islands in the Kuril Archipelago, which the Soviet Union captured during World War II. In the San Francisco Treaty of 1951, Japan relinquished its claims to the Kurils but later claimed that the South Kuril Islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan, were never a part of the archipelago.
Back in February, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that Moscow was not considering signing or even discussing a peace treaty with Japan anytime soon. The diplomat cited Tokyo’s hostility toward Moscow and the sanctions the country imposed on Russia in the wake of the Ukraine conflict.
The remarks came shortly after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged to prioritize relaunching negotiations with the Kremlin on the issue.
Referring to the South Kuril Islands – the Northern Territories as he called them – Kishida described them as “illegally occupied” by Russia for the first time in five years.
Russia and Japan have technically remained at war with each other for almost eight decades, after failing to reach a post-WWII settlement. While Moscow did offer some compromises to Tokyo over the territories following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the two countries have nevertheless failed to resolve the issue once and for all. RT
Chinese envoy advises Philippine government to oppose Taiwan independence
Philippine troops wait to join live fire exercises with their U.S. counterparts at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, March 31, 2023.
Jason Gutierrez/BenarNewsChina’s envoy to the Philippines on Friday strongly advised Manila to “unequivocally oppose” Taiwan’s independence rather than fan the flames of conflict by offering the U.S. military additional access to bases.
Speaking at the 9th Manila Forum for China-Philippines Relations hosted by the pro-Beijing local group Association for Philippines-China Understanding, Ambassador Huang Xilian said Beijing would not abandon the possibility of war against Taiwan.
“The Taiwan question is entirely China’s internal affair, as is the Mindanao issue to the Philippines. You will never allow any third party to meddle with resolving rebel issues in Mindanao,” Huang said, referring to the southern third of the Philippines where the government had for years faced a Muslim insurgency.
“But we will not renounce the use of force and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures,” he said.
Huang stressed that the “one-China principle” was the cornerstone of its diplomatic relations with 182 countries, including the Philippines.
While Beijing welcomes Manila’s adherence, it must also “unequivocally oppose Taiwan independence rather than stoking the fire by offering the U.S. access to the military bases near the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
“Some tried to find (an) excuse for the new EDCA sites by citing the safety of the 150,000 [Overseas Filipino Workers] in Taiwan, while China is the last country that wishes to see conflict over the strait because people on both sides are Chinese,” he said, using an acronym for the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to BenarNews request for comment.
The U.S. Embassy in Manila issued a statement reiterating its stance on U.S troops and facilities in the Philippines.
“EDCA sites will support combined training exercises and interoperability between U.S. and Philippine forces to ensure that we’re even better prepared for future crises. EDCA is a key component of the U.S.-Philippine alliance and is not about any other third country,” the statement said.
Signed by Manila and Washington in 2014, the EDCA supplemented the Visiting Forces Agreement of 1999. That agreement provided legal cover for large-scale joint war games between the two longtime treaty allies.
Under the EDCA, the Philippines earlier this month allowed the U.S. access to four additional sites, bringing the total number of sites to nine.
Three of the new sites are in military bases in the northern provinces of Isabela and Cagayan near Taiwan, while one is in Palawan facing the West Philippine Sea, the part of the disputed South China Sea within Manila’s exclusive economic zone.
“Facts speak louder than words. Obviously, the U.S. intends to take advantage of the new EDCA sites to interfere in the situation across the Taiwan Strait to serve its geopolitical goals and advance its anti-China agenda at the expense of peace and development of the Philippines and the region at large,” Huang said.
Marcos defended expansion
Previously, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. defended his decision to expand the EDCA, saying the locations would not be used in offensive military actions.
“Now, the reaction of China is not really surprising because they worry too much. But … the Philippines will not allow the bases to be used in offensive action. The bases are only to help the Philippines if the country needs help,” Marcos said in an interview with reporters on April 10. “So if no one attacks us, they don’t need to worry because we won’t fight them.”
Huang’s remarks came after U.S. and Philippine troops launched their largest-ever joint military exercises.
They also came days after China carried out naval military drills around Taiwan, following Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s recent U.S. trip where he met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
On Thursday, Philippine soldiers joined their American counterparts in live-fire drills at Fort Magsaysay using the Javelin missile system on day 3 of the “Balikatan” (“Shoulder to Shoulder”) joint exercises. The exercises run until April 28.
Earlier this week, U.S. and Philippine defense and foreign ministers met in Washington for the first 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in seven years. – https://www.benarnews.org/
China says conducted mid-course missile interception test
China says it carried out a successful ground-based mid-course missile interception test
BEIJING — China says it carried out a successful ground-based mid-course missile interception test in an apparent sign of progress in its ability to bring down weapons incoming from space.
The Defense Ministry says the operation was carried out late Friday night within Chinese territory and achieved “the desired test objective.”
The test was “defensive in nature and not targeted against any country,” the ministry said, giving no other details such as whether it actually struck an object, how many interceptors were fired and where they landed.
Such systems, which consist of ground-based interceptor missiles and a huge array of radars and fire control systems, aim to bring down ballistic missiles, including ICBMs carrying nuclear or other warheads, while they are flying in space midcourse on the way to their targets.
Referred to by the U.S. as ground-based mid-course defense, or GMD, such systems are hugely complex and expensive to build, test and maintain, and China’s capabilities in the field are not well known.
Such “kinetic-kill” interceptors can also be used as anti-satellite weapons, and China sparked considerable criticism when it used such a missile to destroy a defunct Chinese weather observation satellite in early 2007. China did not announce the operation and the explosion left a massive debris field that continues to imperil objects in orbit, including China’s own space station, Tiangong.
China’s military-run space program and missile development efforts are intimately linked and it is believed to have used satellite launch centers to conduct missile tests.
China already has one of the world’s largest arsenals of all types of missiles and is believed to be expanding it rapidly. A Pentagon report released last year said China currently has about 400 nuclear warheads and that number could grow to 1,500 by 2035.
GMD forms a major component of missile defense for the U.S. military, which has put it through additional testing in response to North Korea’s increasing number of missile tests.
That’s enough to counter a rogue attack from a country such as North Korea, which is developing missiles that could strike the continental United States, but would be easily overwhelmed by a large-scale attack from Russia or China.
North Korea said Friday it flight-tested a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time, a possible breakthrough in its efforts to acquire a more powerful, harder-to-detect weapon targeting the continental United States.
U.S. tests have shown such systems are far from infallible and that roughly three interceptors must be fired to bring down one incoming missile.
The U.S. also operates the Patriot and THAAD anti-missile systems that cover a smaller geographic area. – https://abcnews.go.com/
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