China, Russia militaries working closer on Taiwan: US Intelligence report
File Photo- AP
Russia and China are working more closely on military matters, including the possibility of a potential invasion of Taiwan, according to US intelligence officials’ assessment as reported by Bloomberg. This latest development has accelerated new planning across the government to counteract a potential scenario where the two countries engage in coordinated military actions.
“We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines was quoted as saying by Bloomberg on Thursday in testimony to Congress.
China carried out a “joint combat readiness patrol” near the island for the second time in a week, Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Thursday. Over the past four years, China’s military has significantly ramped up its activities around democratically-governed Taiwan. Beijing views the island as its own territory, a position the government in Taipei strongly rejects.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised concerns last week about China’s support for Russia’s military, one of the many issues threatening to sour the recent improvement in relations between the world’s biggest economies.
Blinken raised the matter during five-and-a-half hours of talks with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in Beijing, the latest high-level contact between the countries that have eased last year’s acrimony.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has a strong dislike of Lai, believing him a dangerous separatist. China’s government has rejected his repeated offers of talks, including one made last week.
With inputs from agencies.