Global Times warns Taiwan: you will end up like Kabul
Beijing backed newspaper says the fall of Afghanistan is a "lesson" for Taipei. From Saigon to Syria, it is the practice for Americans to "abandon allies". The island's leadership must "wake up from dreams" of independence. Chinese military exercises off the coast of Taiwan.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan has led to a "rapid fall" of the government in Kabul, while the world witnessed with their own eyes "the evacuation of diplomats by helicopter" as happened at the end of the war in Vietnam, in 1975.
This is how The Global Times, the English-language newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, comments on the events in Afghanistan.In an editorial it stresses that Washington's "exit" is "a lesson" for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan. From Saigon to Syria, warns the newspaper close to the Beijing government, "abandoning allies" in order to "protect one's own interests" is an intrinsic "flaw" "rooted" in the US. And the message is accompanied by an eloquent cartoon in which the American eagle accompanies President Tsai Ing-wen towards an open manhole.
For the media outlet linked to the communist leadership, Taiwan "is in all likelihood the most cost-effective ally" of the United States in East Asia, although there is no "military presence" on the island. Washington, it notes, sells arms and encourages the local government "to implement anti-continent policies through political support and manipulation." An approach that has "caused a degree of impoverishment" between the two sides of the Strait.
The Global Times invites Taipei to "wake up from its dreams" of independence, carefully evaluating what "happened in Afghanistan: once the war breaks out - it adds - the island's defence will collapse in a few hours and the American army will not come to help". That's why, the editorial concludes, "the best choice for the leaders of the Ppd "is to avoid bringing the situation to that point" and "act as strategic pawns of the United States, bearing the bitter fruits of a war".
The propaganda of the party organs are also flanked by military operations on the ground: just in these hours, in fact, China has promoted a series of exercises and simulated attacks with warships and fighter jets in the waters south-west and south-east of Taiwan. For the Beijing government those of the People's Liberation Army are a response "to external interference" and "provocations" against Chinese sovereignty in the area. In a note, the PLA Eastern Command said that warships, anti-submarine aircraft and fighter planes carried out near Taiwan a "joint fire assault and other exercises using real troops."
Taiwan's Defense Ministry declined to comment on the latest Beijing-sponsored military exercises in the area. In contrast, China's military leadership says that recently Washington and Taipei have "repeatedly launched provocations [...] seriously violating China's sovereignty and undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait."
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14/08/2021 09:43
15/04/2021 11:19
