Rumors Of War Around The World:

China Sends Warning to Taiwan and U.S. With Big Show of Air Power

China sent 18 fighter jets and bombers into the Taiwan Strait on Friday in a robust show of force that a military official in Beijing said was a warning to Taiwan and the United States about their increasing political and military cooperation.

“Those who play with fire are bound to get burned,” Senior Col. Ren Guoqiang, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, said at a briefing in Beijing, warning the United States and Taiwan against what he called “collusion.”

The aerial drill came as a senior American diplomat held a series of meetings in Taiwan ahead of a formal memorial service on Saturday for former President Lee Teng-hui, who led the island’s transition from military rule to democracy.

Taiwan, the self-governing democracy that Beijing claims as part of a unified China, has become an increasingly tense issue in the deteriorating relations between China and the United States. Both sides have stepped up military operations around Taiwan, while accusing the other of risking a potentially dangerous clash.

Previous flights probing Taiwan’s air defense zones have generally involved pairs of aircraft, not so many at once approaching from multiple directions. That suggested Friday’s flights were intended as an escalatory warning.

The Chinese aircraft, including two H-6 strategic bombers, crossed the median line between the mainland and Taiwan in the strait from four different directions, according to officials and news reports from both sides.

The planes crossed into Taiwan’s southwestern air identification zone before returning to the mainland, according to the Ministry of National Defense in Taiwan, which said that it had scrambled fighter jets and activated its air-defense missile systems to track the Chinese aircraft.

India and China are taking new risks along their border. It will be hard to restore peace.

Arzan Tarapore

Last week, the India-China border standoff came the closest it has yet to war. 

As Taylor Fravel explained, the long-standing border dispute dates from the 1962 Sino-Indian War. The dispute came to a boil in May when a large force of Chinese soldiers crossed the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the disputed border between the two countries since 1962. A deadly skirmish in June temporarily raised tensions, but it was the result of tragic happenstance rather than large and risky military maneuvers.

Tensions have escalated more seriously since late August because both sides have jostled for tactical advantage, creating incentives for each side to outflank or even fight the other.

Here’s where things stand in this crisis.

Aggressive tactical maneuvers led to rising tensions

A new phase of the four-month-long border crisis opened when Indian special forces quietly occupied several peaks in the mountainous Chushul sector of Ladakh during the night of Aug. 29-30. These peaks sit on India’s side of the LAC, just south of a divided lake — Pangong Tso — but had been left unoccupied in accordance with confidence-building agreements. They were the site of tenacious fighting in the 1962 border war and hold particular tactical significance because they overlook an important pathway through the mountains between India and China.

Is Kim Jong Un about to unveil new weapons? Analysts say flurry of activity at North Korean base suggests big reveal

TIM STICKINGS FOR MAILONLINE and REUTERS

North Korea analysts are watching for signs that Kim Jong-un is set to unveil new weapons or test-fire a submarine-launched missile in the coming weeks. 

Formations of troops have been practising for what is expected to be a major military parade in on October 10, the 75th anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party.

Some observers say North Korea may use the Pyongyang parade to showcase its largest missiles for the first time since 2018. 

Satellite photos have also shown a flurry of activity at the Sinpo South Shipyard where the North builds submarines, including in a secure basin where a barge used in previous underwater launches is docked. 

'We're monitoring developments, as there is a possibility that a submarine-launched ballistic missile test will be conducted there,' said South Korea's incoming military chief Won In-choul.  

Experts say the North's push to acquire submarine-launched missiles is a worrying development because they are difficult to detect before launch.   

A source told Seoul-based website Daily NK that the shipyard is 'bustling with activity to prepare for the ballistic missile launch', with officials and researchers arriving since late August. 

DoD Admits Directed Energy Weapons Are In Use – Eludes To War

 The Washington Standard 

The Department of Defense has admitted that directed energy weapons are in use.  Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper said at the Air Force Association’s Virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference that America’s air, space, and cyber warriors “will be at the forefront of tomorrow’s high-end fight.”

Tomorrow’s high-end fight? Is there a war coming we don’t know about? But that’s not the only thing he admitted. The Pentagon is going to ramp up their efforts to use whatever means necessary as weapons, using the largest defense budget in history to do it.

He also blames the use of directed energy weapons (DEWs) on Russia and China. Esper says China and Russia have placed weapons on satellites and are developing directed energy weapons to exploit U.S. systems “and chip away at our military advantage,” he said.