China-Japan-S.Korea trilateral summit meeting begins
China-Japan-S.Korea trilateral summit meeting begins
Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrived in Seoul on May 26 to attend the ninth Trilateral Summit Meeting among China, Japan and South Korea from May 26 to 27. Li had a meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the day of his arrival, with Chinese experts from its state media saying the three major economies in East Asia will make pragmatic efforts to make sure the economic development and integration of the region will not be affected by bloc confrontation and geopolitical crises.
The three countries are currently facing different challenges due to the disruption of the global supply chain and other impacts, so they all have a sincere motivation and realistic desire to resume the trilateral mechanism at this point, as they want to seek cooperation with each other and prevent potential instability by boosting senior-level communication between the governments.
Equatorial Guinea president kicks off visit to China
At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo will pay a state visit to China from May 26 to 31.
As Obiang kicked off his visit to China on Sunday, experts from Chinese state media said his visit aims to consolidate cooperation in traditional fields and also expand bilateral collaboration to new fields so as to diversify the African country’s economy and enhance its industrial capacity.
China’s partnership with Equatorial Guinea is being hailed as a model for South-South cooperation, with experts pointing to the mutually beneficial nature of the relationship. Unlike some Western countries, which have been criticized for their condescending attitudes toward developing nations, China and Equatorial Guinea are seen as treating each other as equals in their dealings.
Chinese state media editorial: PLA drills shock ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionist forces
The following paragraphs are part of an editorial by Global Times, a Chinese state media, in response to the recent tension over the Taiwan Strait.
The just-concluded large-scale joint exercise conducted by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has shocked “Taiwan independence” secessionist forces, with a pilot of the island’s air force reportedly admitting that “the air force will eventually collapse.”
In a countermeasure against Taiwan regional leader Lai Ching-te’s separatist inaugural speech made on May 20, the PLA Eastern Theater Command conducted the Joint Sword-2024A exercise surrounding the island of Taiwan from Thursday to Friday.
The defense authority on the island of Taiwan said on the X platform that it spotted 49 PLA aircraft, 19 PLA vessels and seven China Coast Guard vessels around the island on Thursday, and the numbers further increased to 62 PLA aircraft and 27 PLA vessels on Friday.
A netizen claiming to be a pilot in active service with the air force on the island of Taiwan said on an online social media and networking platform that Taiwan’s flight crews had been overloaded since Lai’s May 20 speech and the PLA’s exercises, and they know this situation will become normal in the future, media on the island reported on Saturday.
“Since this year, many pilots on the team have asked to retire. Some young pilots are even willing to pay the NT$3 million ($93,000) compensation fee to leave,” the alleged Taiwan air force pilot was quoted by the report as saying.
The island’s air force has been overloaded in recent years with emergency sorties, all-night maintenance and midnight training sessions, but Lai ignored the situation faced by the troops and insisted on resisting reunification by force, the alleged Taiwan air force pilot said.
The island’s air force will “eventually collapse,” media quoted the anonymous netizen as saying.
Ironically, in what experts called an act of self-deception, the island of Taiwan released photos showing PLA aircraft acquired by the electro-optical targeting pod of the island’s F-16V fighter jets.
A Beijing-based military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Sunday that being able to see does not mean being able to defeat.
The PLA drills’ goal is to deter and warn the Taiwan authorities, and in a real combat scenario, the island will not get the chance to lock on to any PLA aircraft, the above-quoted expert said.
“We are showing them our capabilities, so it is normal that we let them ‘monitor’,” the expert said.
Zhang Chi, a professor at the PLA National Defense University, told the Global Times that during the exercise, the PLA’s naval and air forces closed in on the island of Taiwan from multiple directions and put intense pressure on the military in the island’s defense and activity spaces.
The goal of the exercise is to clearly warn the Lai authorities that seeking “independence” is a dead end, Zhang said.
In an “anti-salami-slicing” move conducted with overwhelming power, the PLA will move forward every time the “Taiwan independence” secessionist forces dare to provoke, Zhang said.