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No News Is Bad News
Expect more of such pro-Donald Trump/Republican images and illustrations like this for the next four years.
Trump-driven US set to use Taiwan to agitate China
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7, 2024: The Donald Trump-driven US is set to use Taiwan as the preferred “tool” to agitate China, directly, indirectly or with the use of reverse psychology.
Interfering into China's internal affairs (Taiwan) will be the US' order of the day for the next four years.
The billion-dollar question is China’s tolerance level on the Taiwan issue, and where is the line drawn to such US agitations.
It’s now a dangerous world to live in with Trump back on the US’ driver’s seat!
And here is a posting on social media on bashing vice-president Kamala Harris:
Kamala car crash
So let's get this straight:
▪️muscled her way past Joe Biden onto the Democratic ticket
▪️rode an early surge on the back of a record campaign war chest over over $1 billion - three times Trump's fund
▪️somehow failed to outperform Joe Biden in a single county
▪️ lost ground to Trump among Asian, Black and Hispanic voters among other marginal groups
▪️earn the fewest electoral college votes of any Democratic candidate since 1988
No News Is Bad News reproduces below a news report on a prelude to agitating China, with more to come to destabilise world peace. After all, the US cannot survive without wars.
For Taiwan, Trump’s ‘protection’ money could mean big-ticket arms deals
-07 Nov 2024, 04:54 PM
The president-elect has unnerved democratically governed Taiwan by saying that it should pay the US for its defence.
The US is already Taiwan’s most important arms supplier and a new almost US$2 billion order of missile systems was announced last month. (RTX pic)
WASHINGTON/TAIPEI: Taiwan may demonstrate it takes Donald Trump’s “protection” money demand seriously with large and early new arms deals, showing it is not looking for a free ride and is determined to show Washington its resolve to spend to defend itself.
Trump, who won a second term as president this week, unnerved democratically governed Taiwan, which is claimed by China, by saying that Taiwan should pay the US for its defence and that it had taken semiconductor business away from America.
“Watch for Taiwan on the defence side to try and start engaging them on a big arms package – to do something significant, very large,” Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council, which helps broker defence exchanges between Washington and Taipei, told Reuters, adding it could come in the first quarter of next year.
“However, think of it as a down payment, an attention getter. They’ll stack up several big platforms and big buys of munitions,” he said.
The US is already Taiwan’s most important arms supplier, although Taiwan has complained of an order backlog worth some US$20 billion. A new order, almost US$2 billion of missile systems, was announced last month.
Taiwan, which rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, has faced repeated military pressure from China, including a new round of war games last month.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry, in a written report to lawmakers on Thursday, said China might try and test the US during the presidential transition with more drills, hacking attacks or other forms of psychological warfare.
One former US official said he assessed it was “highly likely” that Taiwan would move quickly to attempt to broker a major arms deal with the US to get the Trump administration onside and counter any lingering inclination he has that Taiwan fleeced the US on semiconductors.
“They will want to solidify their fealty quickly to lock in Trump’s interest,” the person said of Taiwan, speaking on condition of anonymity to be able to speak freely.
Taiwan’s defence pact with Washington ended in 1979 along with official diplomatic relations, so it does not directly pay for US forces to be based on its soil, unlike Japan and South Korea.
On Thursday, Taiwan foreign minister Lin Chia-lung avoided answering questions from reporters on what protection money for the US might look like, but told lawmakers defence spending, now around 2.5% of GDP, would increase.
“The trend is for it to keep rising,” he said.
Taiwan’s defence ministry referred Reuters to comments on Wednesday by deputy defence minister Po Horng-huei in parliament that defence minister Wellington Koo had made it very clear Taiwan’s determination to defend itself will never change.
“It is our responsibility to maintain stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Po said.
Friends of Taiwan
Several names being considered for top jobs in the new US administration are people who are strong supporters of Taiwan, including former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who after leaving office called for formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, who visited Taiwan last year.
O’Brien on Wednesday tweeted his thanks to Taiwan president Lai Ching-te for his congratulations to Trump, cheering officials in Taiwan, although Lai’s office said there were no plans for a call between him and Trump.
One Taiwan-based security source, also speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, said that if people like O’Brien or Pompeo got top jobs it would be “fantastic” for Taiwan, but that Taiwan also needed to show it took defence spending seriously.
“Trump asking for protection money is probably the jolt Taiwan needs to really ramp up its defence spending,” the official said, adding a new arms deal in the new year would be an excellent way of showing Trump it would do so.
Trump won fans in Taiwan during his first term in office, first by speaking to then-president Tsai Ing-wen shortly after winning election, and then with arms sales, visits by cabinet members to Taipei and a strong line on China.
Vincent Chao, who was spokesman for Lai’s presidential campaign and is a regular visitor to the US, said all possible candidates being discussed publicly for Trump’s secretary of state and defence secretaries are considered “Taiwan friendly”.
“When it comes to Trump, people say it is about what he does, not what he says,” Chao said, referring to Trump’s comments on Taiwan during the campaign.
“There’s no need for Taiwanese to worry. We should have confidence.”
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