Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised the concern that China’s leader Xi Jinping may be emboldened to invade Taiwan soon. Such fear has shifted attitudes and strategic thinking in Taiwan and its ally Japan.
The last time Taiwan faced military assault by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was in 1958. On August 23, under Chairman Mao Zedong’s directive, the PLA heavily bombed Quemoy, Matsu, and other surrounding offshore islands. The PLA’s bombardment of Taiwan only stopped after the United States demonstrated its will to defend Taiwan by sending six aircraft carriers, three heavy cruisers, 40 destroyers, and two air force divisions to Taiwan strait.
Since then, the Taiwanese people have enjoyed several decades of peace and prosperity. The Chinese Communist Party changed tactics and had hoped that deepening economic ties between Taiwan and mainland China would eventually “reunite” Taiwan with the motherland peacefully. To the CCP’s disappointment, a poll shows that most Taiwanese don’t identify as Chinese.
China’s Xi Jinping vowed never to rule out taking Taiwan by force. The PLA has increased both the frequency and the number of fighter jets it sent near Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), hoping to intimidate the Taiwanese people. Still, most Taiwanese didn’t take Beijing’s military threat seriously until Russia invaded Ukraine. (Read more from “The Ukraine Crisis Is a Wake-up Call for Taiwan and Japan” HERE)
Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/1024px-View_of_Taipei_Taiwan_skyline_from_Sun_Yat-sen_Memorial_Hall.jpeg7681024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2022-03-15 23:45:362022-03-15 23:42:28The Ukraine Crisis Is A Wake-up Call For Taiwan And Japan
Russia and China are coordinating military exercises to threaten not only Taiwan but also Hawaii, according to a senior Japanese defense official who warned the United States to beware of a Pearl Harbor-style surprise attack.
“We have to show the deterrence towards China, and not just China but also the Russians, because, as I told you, that they are doing their exercises together,” Japanese deputy Yasuhide Nakayama told the Hudson Institute this week.
Taiwan’s vulnerability to an invasion from mainland China has become a preoccupation of Indo-Pacific strategists in recent months, as Chinese Communist forces escalate their military drills around the island. Nakayama, who was unusually frank about the need for democratic nations to ensure Taiwan’s survival, implied that Russia and China are working as allies preparing for a major conflict.
“I think the Taiwanese are really concerned,” he said. “And also, they’re focusing on the two big countries collaborating and [presenting] a lot of threat towards Taiwan.”
Chinese Communist officials regard Taiwan as a renegade province, one that they have claimed since coming to power in 1949 but never governed. Most countries recognize the regime in Beijing as the official Chinese government and do not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, although the U.S. has maintained a friendly relationship and provided weaponry to help Taiwanese authorities deter an invasion from the mainland. (Read more from “Military Official Warns U.S. Of Potential Surprise Attack On Hawaii” HERE)
Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/OIP.yVGs01xbRwsKepou8P3irAHaEg.jpeg288474Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2021-07-01 03:46:322021-07-01 03:44:25Military Official Warns U.S. Of Potential Surprise Attack On Hawaii
By CNBC. Japan could be a key indicator when it comes to predicting a pandemic-level spread of the deadly coronavirus, former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Tuesday.
Japan appears to be “on the cusp of a large outbreak and maybe epidemic growth in Japan. We need to watch that very closely. They’ve had a doubling of cases just in the last four days” with a total of 59 confirmed cases and one death so far, Gottlieb said on “Squawk Box.”
If other countries report sharp rises in COVID-19 cases, Gottlieb said it could be a sign that the new virus can’t be controlled on a global scale. The CNBC contributor said earlier in February it’s likely the flu-like virus will grow into a pandemic but avoid becoming an epidemic in the United States.
A pandemic is the worldwide spread of a new disease, according to the World Health Organization. An epidemic is an often sudden increase in the number of cases of a disease above what is normally expected in a population in an area, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Syra Madad, an expert in public health and special pathogen response, said that while it’s still early in the outbreak, a pandemic could be near. (Read more from “COVID-19: Are We on the Verge of a Global Pandemic?” HERE)
Russia to Ban Entry of Chinese Nationals to Halt Virus
By Associated Press. Russia will temporarily ban Chinese nationals from entering the country due to the virus outbreak centered in China that has infected more than 73,000 people worldwide, Russian authorities said Tuesday.
The entry ban goes into effect Thursday at midnight Moscow time (2100 GMT) for an indefinite period, according to a decree signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. The government said it took the move due to the “worsening epidemiological situation” in China.
Russia already had cut off most Chinese visitors by closing the long land border with China and Mongolia and imposing other travel restrictions. The new entry ban won’t affect travelers who need to transfer flights at Russian airports, authorities said. (Read more from “Russia to Ban Entry of Chinese Nationals to Halt Virus” HERE)
Bare-Faced Robbery: Thieves Steal 6,000 Hygiene Masks in Japan
By Yahoo. Thieves in Japan have made off with some 6,000 surgical masks from a hospital, with the country facing a mass shortage and a huge price hike online due to the coronavirus.
Four boxes containing the face masks disappeared from a locked storage facility at the Japanese Red Cross hospital in the western port city of Kobe, a hospital official said on Tuesday.
“We still have a large number of masks — enough to continue our daily operations at the hospital, but this is so deplorable,” the official told AFP.
Police have launched an investigation as they suspect the thieves intend to resell the masks.
Masks have sold out at many drug and discount stores across the nation as the number of infections have increased in Japan — one of the most affected countries after China where the death toll from the virus has hit 1,800. (Read more from “Bare-Faced Robbery: Thieves Steal 6,000 Hygiene Masks in Japan” HERE)
Mask Shortages Threaten U.S. Hospitals After Warnings Ignored
By Asian Review. The U.S. is facing a potentially severe shortage of surgical masks due to the coronavirus outbreak in China, despite repeated warnings that American hospitals are overly dependent on Chinese-made medical supplies.
While the coronavirus has caused just 12 confirmed cases in the U.S., the country sources the bulk of its surgical masks, respirators and other “personal protective equipment” from China, where the disease has killed 1,770 and infected tens of thousands.
The epidemic has not only disrupted mask production in the country, it has also sent China’s own demand for medical supplies soaring.
Now hospitals in the U.S. are having to ration their inventory amid one of the worst flu seasons in decades.
Last week, staff at Mt. Sinai Health Systems received an email informing them that, among other measures, surgical masks will only be available in departments such as intensive care units, divisions involved in infection prevention and emergency departments, according to a person familiar with the matter. (Read more from “Mask Shortages Threaten U.S. Hospitals After Warnings Ignored” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/virus-4835301_960_720.jpg540960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-02-18 20:41:322020-02-18 20:37:43COVID-19: Are We on the Verge of a Global Pandemic?
Fourteen Americans tested positive for carrying the new coronavirus just as they began their return to the United States from Yokohama, Japan, where they had been trapped aboard the luxury cruise ship Diamond Princess in a quarantine that began February 3.
As of today, February 17, Japanese health officials have confirmed 454 cases of COVID-19 on the ship, including 99 cases reported since yesterday. The cluster is, by far, the largest of any COVID-19 flare ups outside of China, where the outbreak began and has caused the vast majority of infections and deaths.
The new cases in the returning Americans will nearly double the current number of COVID-19 cases in the US, bringing the total from the current 15 to 29.
Originally, no American cruise ship passengers infected with the new coronavirus were meant to leave Japan. When the US government announced plans on Saturday, February 15, to evacuate the roughly 400 Americans stuck on the cruise liner, it noted that sick passengers would stay in Japan for treatment.
But evacuation plans for over 300 other Americans were thrown into question as they disembarked the ship and made their way on buses to the airport where planes chartered by the US State Department awaited them. En route, US officials received the results of testing done two to three days earlier that determined that 14 of the evacuees were infected with the novel coronavirus. (Read more from “Infected Americans Return From Coronavirus Cruise” HERE)
A security operative and ex-Green Beret was reportedly part of an audacious plan to smuggle auto executive Carlos Ghosn out of Japan where prosecutors charged him with numerous financial crimes.
Michael Taylor, a former Green Beret who has etched out a long career arranging high-risk rescue missions, took part in the caper, which entailed Ghosn hiding in a box transported into a private jet before being flown to Turkey, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
Taylor’s decision to help Ghosn was borne out of his own experiences in the U.S. judicial system. He pleaded guilty in 2015 on charges that he bribed a Pentagon official to obtain bidding information that helped him fraudulently win $54 million in government contracts, WSJ noted. Taylor said his 14-month stint in a Utah county jail awaiting trial was torturous. . .
The flight took the corporate titan to Istanbul, where Ghosn boarded another private jet for a flight to Lebanon — he arrived in Beirut in December, just before New Year’s Day. Ghosn is a citizen of Brazil, France and Lebanon, none of which have extradition treaty agreements with Japan.
Japanese authorities believe that Taylor, who speaks some Arabic, and an associate wheeled Ghosn in the chest through the lobby of the Osaka airport. Taylor, 59, has worked in the past freeing other people stuck in tight spots. He once helped rescue a New York Times reporter from the Taliban and freed children who were kidnapped overseas, WSJ reported, citing a memo Taylor’s lawyers produced. (Read more from “Here’s the Ex-Green Beret Who Allegedly Smuggled an Imprisoned Auto Exec out of Japan in a Box” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/plane-flight-airplane-airport-aircraft-aviation.jpg607910Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2020-01-19 18:05:222020-01-19 18:03:19Here’s the Ex-Green Beret Who Allegedly Smuggled an Imprisoned Auto Exec out of Japan in a Box
United States President Donald J. Trump alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced on Sunday the framework for a massive trade deal between the two countries. While nothing has been signed yet, the potential agreement could bolster both economies by billions.
“We’ve been working on a deal with Japan for a long time. And we’ve agreed in principle,” President Trump told the press at the G7 Summit.
“We successfully reached consensus with regard to the core elements related to agricultural and industrial trade,” Abe told the media via a translator. “We still have some remaining work that has to be done at the working level.” . . .
“With regard to the potential purchase of American corn, in Japan, we are now experiencing insect pests on some agricultural products,” Abe added. “And there is a need for us to buy some of the agricultural products.”
. . .After years of planning, the persistent researcher has at last received approval from a government willing to pursue one of the most controversial scientific studies there is: human-animal embryo experiments.
While many countries around the world have restricted, defunded or outright banned these ethically-fraught practices, Japan has now officially lifted the lid on this proverbial Pandora’s box. Earlier this year, the country made it legal to not only transplant hybrid embryos into surrogate animals, but also to bring them to term.
As a lead stem cell researcher at the University of Tokyo and Stanford University, Nakauchi has gone from country to country, chasing his dream of one day growing customised human organs in animals like sheep or pigs. . .
That ultimate goal is still a long way off, but the next step in his research has at last been given the green light by ministry officials in Japan. As the first researcher to receive government approval since the 2014 ban, Nakauchi plans on taking things slowly so that public understanding and trust can catch up. . .
The goal is for the rodent embryo to use the human cells to build itself a pancreas, and for two years, the team plans on watching these rodents develop and grow, carefully monitoring their organs and brains in the process. Only then will the researchers ask for approval to do the same with pigs. (Read more from “Government Approves Bringing Animal-Human Hybrids to Term” HERE)
A 116-year-old Japanese woman who loves playing the board game Othello was honored Saturday as the world’s oldest living person by Guinness World Records.
The global authority on records officially recognized Kane Tanaka in a ceremony at the nursing home where she lives in Fukuoka, in Japan’s southwest. Her family and the mayor were present to celebrate.
Tanaka was born Jan. 2, 1903, the seventh among eight children. She married Hideo Tanaka in 1922, and they had four children and adopted another child. . .
Japanese tend to exhibit longevity and dominate the oldest-person list. Although changing dietary habits mean obesity has been rising, it’s still relatively rare in a nation whose culinary tradition focuses on fish, rice, vegetables and other food low in fat. Age is also traditionally respected here, meaning people stay active and feel useful into their 80s and beyond.
But Tanaka has a ways to go before she is the oldest person ever, an achievement of a French woman, Jeanne Louise Calment, who lived to 122 years, according to Guinness World Records. (Read more from “Japanese Woman Honored by Guinness as Oldest Person” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/hospice-1753585_960_720.jpg640960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2019-03-08 21:23:592019-03-08 21:21:04Japanese Woman Honored by Guinness as Oldest Person
There’s a building boom going on at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan where on March 11, 2011, as the coast was catastrophically flooded by an earthquake-triggered tsunami, three of the six reactors melted down . . .
Tepco, which owns the site, has built hundreds of massive storage tanks to hold the radioactive water that is leaking from the disaster . . .
The report explained there have been improvements in the filtering system since the disaster seven years ago, but none of the processes so far has been able to catch tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen . . .
“Some of those tanks and pipes will eventually fail. It’s inevitable,” Dale Klein, a former head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told the publication.
Klein says the concentrations are low enough that the water can safely be released into the sea, Wired reported, but “the notion of dumping tons of radioactive water into the ocean is understandably a tough sell.” (Read more from “New Fukushima Nightmare for Japan Utility” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Fukushima-1.jpg480640Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2018-04-29 23:22:452018-04-29 23:22:45New Fukushima Nightmare for Japan Utility
Japan has again been forced to confront its work culture after labour inspectors ruled that the death of a 31-year-old journalist at the country’s public broadcaster, NHK, had been caused by overwork.
Miwa Sado, who worked at the broadcaster’s headquarters in Tokyo, logged 159 hours of overtime and took only two days off in the month leading up to her death from heart failure in July 2013.
A labour standards office in Tokyo later attributed her death to karoshi (death from overwork) but her case was only made public by her former employer this week.
Sado’s death is expected to increase pressure on Japanese authorities to address the large number of deaths attributed to the punishingly long hours expected of many employees.
The announcement comes a year after a similar ruling over the death of a young employee at Dentsu advertising agency prompted a national debate over Japan’s attitude to work-life balance and calls to limit overtime. (Read more from “Woman ‘Dies From Overtime’ at Work” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/26794907910_fc7fbe3be6_b.jpg512768Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-10-05 19:48:082017-10-06 16:31:56Woman ‘Dies From Overtime’ at Work
