Latest news with #TaiwanConflict
The Guardian
02-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Former UK civil service chief calls Xi Jinping a ‘dictator' over plans to reunify Taiwan
The former head of the UK's civil service has described the Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a 'dictator' and said Donald Trump had put 'helpful pressure' on Europe to increase defence spending. Simon Case, who served as cabinet secretary until December when he stepped down on health grounds, said China had sent a clear message to 'prepare for serious conflict' in Taiwan. The UK has committed to spend the equivalent of 2.6% of GDP in 2027, and it and other Nato members have signed up to increasing spending to 5% by 2035 on militaries and related security. The increased defence spending came after years of Trump raising questions over the future of the Nato alliance – and whether the US would come to allies' defence – if other countries did not increase spending. Case argued for the UK and Europe to increase the pace of increased defence spending. He was speaking at an event in London paid for by Britain's biggest weapons maker, BAE Systems. The manufacturer of artillery, fighter jets and nuclear submarines is expected to be one of the biggest corporate beneficiaries of increased spending on weaponry. Case said: 'There's some actually quite helpful pressure, if you ask me – [this is a] slightly unpopular view – from the White House about us pulling our fingers out in Europe and actually stepping up to the plate on our defence spending. 'But the reason that matters is because President Xi has publicly set out his timetable for, as he would put it, reunifying Taiwan. We're incredibly bad at reading what dictators say in public. We spend millions of pounds on secret intelligence, which is absolutely amazing, but we're really bad at missing what they actually say in public, which is, this is the timetable at which I want everybody to be ready for us to prepare for serious conflict.' Xi exercises near absolute power in China, but the country has strongly objected to the use of the label 'dictator', including by the former US president Joe Biden. The UK's recent strategic defence review highlighted Chinese military exercises around Taiwan as a driver of global instability. Case also raised the threat of Russia starting further conflicts in Europe, beyond Ukraine. In February Case took over as chair of the government-funded 'Team Barrow', which is described as a 'partnership between the government, Westmorland and Furness council, and BAE Systems' to support the local economy, which is heavily dependent on BAE's nuclear submarine shipyard.
South China Morning Post
13-06-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
What does China's military gain from operating 2 aircraft carriers in second island chain?
In sending two aircraft carriers to the western Pacific concurrently for the first time, Beijing is learning to coordinate the vessels in open ocean, a tactic it would likely use to deter US forces in a Taiwan conflict, according to defence analysts. The two carriers – the Liaoning and Shandong – were spotted in the waters, having entered the western Pacific via separate courses over the past two weeks. They are believed to have practised dispersing, concentrating and communicating in the complex high-seas area. By Friday, Chinese military authorities had not yet declared an end to the exercise. 01:39 China says Fujian carrier is world's largest conventionally powered warship China says Fujian carrier is world's largest conventionally powered warship The operation is the first time a Chinese carrier has crossed the strategic second island chain. Stretching from Japan through Guam to Papua New Guinea, the second island chain is a notional defensive perimeter for the United States and its allies to contain China during potential conflicts.
South China Morning Post
09-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
Pakistan claims China-made jets in India clash, boy given wine: SCMP's 7 highlights
We have selected seven stories from this week's news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing Pakistan has claimed it used Chinese-made J-10C fighter jets against India's air force in a brief military encounter on Wednesday. A flight attendant with Cathay Pacific Airways mistakenly served a glass of white wine to a three-year-old boy seated in business class, his mother complained, as she claimed the Hong Kong flag carrier had not properly explained how the oversight happened. The fighter still being developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation is unofficially referred to as the J-36. Photo: Weibo/河东三叔 In a future conflict over Taiwan, Beijing's sixth-generation fighter could block the airspace to foreign bases in Guam for up to two hours from 1,000km away, according to a mainland Chinese military magazine.
