This is the reaction that the United States has found in the UN Security Council to its proposal to extend indefinitely the arms embargo on Iran that expires next October, according to the Efe news agency this Thursday at dawn. Of the 15 members of this body, only the Dominican Republic has supported Washington’s request, far from the nine votes needed to move the project forward. China, Russia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom had already advanced the veto to the proposal before the vote. The remaining eight members of the UN’s highest body have chosen to abstain, leading the initiative to total failure.
China welcomes Russia’s Friday proposal of a video summit with the United States and the remaining parties to the nuclear deal – China, Britain, France, Germany and Iran – to try to avoid further “confrontation and escalation” at the United Nations over Iran
Trump says “probably not” to join Putin-proposed summit on Iran
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he would not participate in the summit on Iran that Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed on Friday. “Probably not,” Trump said when asked whether he would join the Putin-proposed video summit during a news conference at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Trump also confirmed to reporters that the United States “will be doing a snapback” against Iran, referring to restoring all pre-2015 UN sanctions against Iran. “You will be watching it next week,” he added.
8-19-20 Trump demands full restoration of UN sanctions on Iran, as Pompeo warns Russia & China not to meddle. “Today I’m directing the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to notify the United Nations Security Council that the United States intends to restore virtually all of the United Nations sanctions on Iran – it’s a snap back, not uncommon,” Trump told reporters during a White House press conference on Wednesday.
8-20-20 The US exited the Iran nuclear deal and therefore has no right to demand a ‘snapback’ of UN sanctions on Tehran, the foreign ministers of three European powers involved in the JCPOA said in response to Washington’s latest push. “France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the so-called E3, note that the United States has not been a member of the JCPOA since their withdrawal from the agreement on May 8, 2018,” their respective foreign ministers Jean-Yves Le Drian,Heiko Maas and Dominic Raab said in a statement on Thursday. Therefore, the E3 “cannot support” the US demand for UN sanctions against Iran to be reimposed, as it is “inconsistent” with their current efforts to implement the deal, the trio added.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis on Thursday refused to take sides against China and also would not rule out working with Chinese telecom company Huawei despite a push by visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“We are a sovereign country, we treat these countries quite standardly like everyone else,” Babis told Mlada fronta Dnes, one of the country’s largest newspapers, after Pompeo used his visit to take swipes at both Russia and China.
Speaking to the Czech Senate on Wednesday, Pompeo called on European countries to rally against the Communist Party of China, which he accused of leveraging economic might to exert its influence around the world.
Reportedly, the U.S. President’s special envoy for arms control affairs Marshall Billingsley said in an interview on the 14th, the United States is developing medium-range missiles is the absolute necessity of Japan and other countries in the future defense force, and Japan is also a candidate to deploy this missile. Billingsley also asserted that China is an “imminent threat,” and revealed attempts to expand military cooperation with relevant Asian countries.
Billingsley stated that he would consult with the relevant Asian countries on the threat posed by China’s nuclear capabilities, as well as on matters related to the defense of allied capabilities. And Billingsley was the first to mention the possible deployment of medium-range missiles in Japan.
“Pirates Of The Caribbean” – The United States has seized four Iranian tankers on the high seas, U.S. officials said on Thursday (14). The tankers were allegedly carrying Iranian oil in violation of U.S. sanctions. The four tankers are currently en route to a major oil port in Houston, Texas.
The U.S. seizure of the Iranian tankers was reportedly motivated by the arrival of five Iranian tankers earlier this year carrying 1.5 million barrels of gasoline to Venezuela, which is also under restrictive U.S. economic sanctions.
On Aug. 10, Pakistan seized an Iranian tanker at the port of Karachi at the request of the U.S. government, but since the name of the tanker was never reported, it is unclear whether it is one of the four now en route to Houston.
The Trump administration began imposing strangling economic sanctions on Iran in August 2018, with the goal of reducing the country’s oil exports to zero, while also attempting to cripple other Iranian industries.
The US reconnaissance aircrafts have repeatedly approached the Chinese mainland for reconnaissance.
U.S. warships cross the Taiwan Strait.
The scurrying of senior United States officials to Taiwan.
US selling weapons to Taiwan
Air Force Colonel Zhang Chunhui 张春晖, spokesman for the Eastern Theater of Operations , said the PLA has recently mobilized troops from multiple services in multiple directions and systems, organizing continuous combat exercises in the Taiwan Strait and at the north and south ends to further test and enhance the joint combat capabilities of multiple services.
Recently, a certain major country has continued to make negative moves on Taiwan-related issues, sending a serious wrong signal to the “Taiwan Secession” forces and seriously threatening peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan is a sacred and inalienable part of China’s territory, and the patrols and training activities organized by the theatre forces are necessary to address the current security situation in the Taiwan Strait and the need to safeguard national sovereignty. The theater forces will remain on high alert at all times, take all necessary measures, resolutely respond to all provocative acts that create “Taiwan Secession ” and divide the country, and resolutely defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China.
This exercise no longer emphasized that “it does not target specific countries or regions”, but directly stated that a certain major country has sent a serious wrong signal to the “Taiwan Secession ” forces, and we will take necessary actions.
Military commentator Song Zhongping宋忠平 said that the Taiwan exercises highly targets, which will make the ” Taiwan Secession ” activists and extra-territorial forces understand that the PLA is not ambiguous on the Taiwan issue and has no room for bargaining. The root cause of the Taiwan issue is that the ” Taiwan Secession ” forces, with the connivance of the United States and other extraterritorial countries, may take desperate risks. Now that we have found the focus of the conflict, we should point it out clearly to discourage and deter the “Taiwan Secession ” forces from acting wilfully. Otherwise, the PLA will follow the anti-secession law to resolve the Taiwan Sea issue along with the issue of extraterritorial countries interfering in China’s internal affairs.
It is self-evident who the ” extraterritorial country ” refer to.
On the 12th, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration’s so-called “representative in the United States” Xiao Meiqin萧美琴 declared that Taiwan is in discussions with the United States on military purchases, including “coast guard cruise missile systems” (CDCM) and smart mines are among the discussions.
After the arrest of the ringleader of the HK rebellion, Jimmy Lai黎智英 , Tsai Ing-wen stated before the regular meeting of the DPP on 12th that the mainland had “directly infringed upon the foundations of freedom, human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong through Hong Kong’s national security laws”, and declared that the DPP would keep its promise to “continue to provide the necessary humanitarian assistance to the people of Hong Kong”.
DPP authorities leaders also videotaped a speech at a U.S. think tank video conference, using “freedom and democracy” as an excuse, claiming that will strengthen relations between Taiwan and the United States.
U.S. recently flipped the Taiwan card: the U.S. Secretary of Health Alex Azar visit Taiwan, the U.S. intends to sell at least four advanced drones – “Sea Guardian” to Taiwan . This type of drone, can detect the PLA’s military movements real-time , including the deployment of troops in and out of key waterways, this is a threat to the PLA. In addition, the U.S. is also hoping that Taiwan will pay for its own intelligence-gathering.
Sea Guardian
“These drones, flying non-stop on a regular basis, pose a threat with the reconnaissance of PLA’s troop deployments. However, the PLA has the ability to capture or destroy them, the threat will cease to exist,” Song Zhongping.
What’s more important than deterrence?
As a matter of fact, the Chinese army had held several live exercises in the Taiwan Sea in 1996, 2015 and 2018. Each exercise coincided with the United States playing the “Taiwan card”. The difference is that over time, the PLA’s strength is not the same from that of the past.
The statement on the Taiwan Sea drill also clearly indicates the location and deployment of troops: a multi-discipline, multi-regional system of troops, the continuous organization of combat exercises in the Taiwan Strait and the north and south ends.
Song Zhongping stressed that this information is crucial. The so-called Multi-Mission system, is the key embodiment of joint warfare, and the PLA is one of the few armies in the world with a Multi-Mission combat capability.
The same is true when focusing on the Eastern Theater of operations that participated in the exercise. Song Zhongping said the Eastern Theater Joint Battle Command will assemble and mobilize the land, sea, air and rocket forces of multiple forces throughout the Eastern Theater jurisdiction together. “The Eastern Theater is doing such a series of exercises to enhance the preparation for military struggle against Taiwan, especially to target strong enemy intervention.”
At the same time, Song Zhongping believes that this military exercise has a strong significance, the exercise field includes the Taiwan Strait and the north and south ends, forming a “Territorial Military Exercise” against Taiwan specifically. In addition, he mentioned that in addition to deterrence, the more important role of the actual military exercises is to survey military projection in accordance with the actual battle plan, and rehearse in a real environment.
The European Union delegation sent a “note of protest” to the United States State Department during the videoconference, but the report does not mention the level of the protest or which three countries refused to join the protest. European diplomatic sources said, “We can confirm that the EU Delegation took diplomatic action against the US sanctions policy at a meeting with the US State Department on August 12, which was held in video format with the participation of 24 member states.”
In terms of content, the protest note reiterates the statement made by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Borrelli on 17 July about the sanctions imposed by the United States against European companies, including those involved in the Nord Stream-2 and Turkey Creek projects. The EU is deeply concerned by the increasing frequency of such sanctions. EU countries consider the extraterritorial sanctions to be a violation of international law. On 11 August, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas expressed his disagreement with the extraterritorial restrictions imposed by the United States on the Nord Stream-2 project, noting that decisions on European energy policy were made jointly by European countries and in Brussels. EU can decide independently where to buy energy.
Urmas Reinsalu
However, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said in a media interview that the US plan to impose sanctions on European companies involved in the Nord Stream-2 project is in Estonia’s interests. He noted that there is no consensus within the European countries on the construction of the gas pipeline, but Estonia agrees with the initiative taken by the United States. He added that he understood the logic of the United States. On August 5, several U.S. senators ( Ted Cruz of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin ) demanded that Faehrhafen Sassnitz , the German operator of Port Mukran on the island of Rügen, (the logistical hub for the completion of the pipeline) stops supporting the construction of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline, otherwise the United States will financially “destroy” the company. They threatened Port Mukran with “crushing” economic and legal sanctions if it continued to allow ships to be equipped for the pipeline project.
“The Nord Stream-2 project plans to build a gas pipeline with an annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters from the Russian coast across the Baltic Sea to Germany, supplying gas directly to Europe. Most EU countries support the project and are involved in its implementation. The United States, the Baltic States, Ukraine and Poland oppose it. Ukraine and Poland insist that the Baltic Sea pipeline will mean they lose out on billions in transit fees from the pipelines that run through their countries.
Joe Biden’s naming of Kamala Harris 贺锦丽 as running mate is a move to use her background to topple Donald Trump, but based on her previous tough stance, the nominee won’t help end the two parties’ playing of the China card.
Harris is the daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father, and is the second African-American woman and first South Asian-American senator in history. She is the first African American and first Indian American to be chosen as the running mate of a major party’s presidential candidate.
Sen. Kamala Harris Introduces China First Bill To Condemn References To The China Virus 05/26/2020.
According to Kamala Harris, China steals intellectual property and ships “substandard” products to the U.S. Harris says that China must be held accountable but disagrees with the tariffs set in place by the Trump administration.
Harris wants China’s cooperation in fighting climate change and handling relations with North Korea.
Harris Urge Pompeo To Take Immediate Action To Cease Genocidal Campaign Against Minority Women In China.
When Biden will pass after winning the Nov election, Harris will step in to become POTUS.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Americans would have to “learn to speak Chinese” if he loses the 2020 election to former Vice President Joe Biden.
Trump was implying that Biden would be soft on China, though in reality the former vice president’s campaign has taken a fairly hawkish stance toward Beijing.
“All they’re waiting for, and China too, is that I’m defeated. Because if I’m defeated, China will own the United States,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
“If I don’t win the election, China will own the United States—you will have to learn to speak Chinese!” Trump added.
China announced sanctions on 11 U.S. officials Monday in response to U.S. sanctions against officials of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian at a daily news briefing. The sanctions, effective from Monday, are applied to U.S. officials including Senators
11 US A s s h o l e s 针对美方错误行径，中方决定从即日起，对在涉港问题上表现恶劣的美国联邦参议员卢比奥 、克鲁兹、霍利、科顿、图米，联邦众议员史密斯，以及美国国家民主基金会总裁格什曼、美国国际事务民主协会总裁米德伟、美国国际共和研究所总裁特温宁、人权观察执行主席罗斯、自由之家总裁阿布拉莫维茨实施制裁。
