NBC News:

China will take “drastic measures” if Taiwan makes moves towards independence, a Beijing official warned on Wednesday, adding that Taiwan’s provocations and outside meddling could intensify next year.

China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and in the past two years has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure to assert its sovereignty claim, fueling anger in Taipei and concern in Washington.

China was willing to try its utmost to seek peaceful reunification with Taiwan but would act if any red lines on independence were crossed, Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office, told a media briefing.

“If separatist forces in Taiwan seeking independence provoke, exert force or even break through any red line, we will have to take drastic measures,” Ma said.

Taiwan has emerged as a key factor in strained relations between China and the United States, the island’s most important international backer and arms supplier despite the absence of formal diplomatic ties.

The Japan Times:

On the front line of the superpower struggle between the United States and China, Taiwan has fashioned a defensive masterstroke. It has become indispensable to both sides.

In dominating the fabrication of the most advanced semiconductors, the giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSMC) has captured a technology that’s crucial to the cutting-edge digital devices and weapons of today and tomorrow. TSMC accounts for more than 90% of global output of these chips, according to industry estimates.

Both superpowers now find themselves deeply dependent on the small island at the center of their increasingly tense rivalry.

See also:
–US Shows China Its Hand On Strategic Value Of ‘Unsinkable’ Taiwan
–Taiwan Braces For More Chinese Warplane Flybys In 2022
–Top U.S. Official In Taiwan Says China Military Flights ‘Not Acceptable’

Forbes:

Trade patterns are shifting and profoundly so. The European Union (EU) and the United States have agreed to advance their decoupling from China. Meanwhile, agreements in Asia have opened the door to considerably more trade between the dominant economies of that region, South Korea, Japan, and China — substantively, if not immediately.

See also: New African Port To Put China Across The Atlantic From The US – Analysis

CNBC:

The world’s second-largest economy, which has lost steam after a solid recovery from the pandemic last year, faces multiple challenges as a property downturn deepens, supply bottlenecks persist and strict Covid-19 curbs hit consumer spending.

Independent:

Scorning it as ‘Western spiritual opium’ and the ‘Festival of Shame’, China has cracked down on Christmas in recent years as the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) increasingly vociferous brand of nationalism rejects any outside influence or ideas.

Christmas may not be traditional or officially recognised in China, but there are tens of millions of Christians in the country who celebrate the occasion while much of the general public enjoy festive rituals that are common worldwide – be it shopping for gifts or going out with friends.

Yet under the leadership of Xi Jinping – and since relations with the US soured under the presidency of Donald Trump – Beijing has sought to either downplay or exert control over Western culture or beliefs, and Christmas celebrations have been repeatedly denounced.

CCP notices have banned party members, government agencies, and even universities from taking part in any festivities while slogans urging citizens to boycott Christmas are common on social media platforms.

Newsweek:

China’s ambition to “unify” with Taiwan cannot be stopped by any force or country, a government spokesperson said in a message to the United States on Monday.

At a regular Foreign Ministry press conference in Beijing, Zhao Lijian cautioned President Joe Biden’s administration against further contact with the democratic island, where public opinion of China has slid to an all-time low thanks to hostile rhetoric and bellicose military maneuvers in recent years.

The Chinese leadership and its top diplomats have all but dismissed sentiments on the opposite side of the Taiwan Strait. Beijing is at least outwardly confident about its determination—and capability—to bring the island under its rule, in accordance with its own opaque timetable.

Voice Of America News:

A Sino-U.S. military dialogue that coincided with a defense budget increase this month reveal a key piece of President Joe Biden’s China policy—talk and prepare to fight all at once—analysts believe.

Foreign Policy:

U.S. President Joe Biden’s climate diplomacy with China is rooted in the fantasy that Washington can turn Beijing into a constructive global partner simply by treating it like one. The administration is paying for this vain hope with very real concessions in policy areas unrelated to climate, even as it pressures U.S. allies to imitate its approach. Unless the administration changes course, it risks damaging the United States’ long-term security and accelerating China’s sprint to dominance in key military and technology fields.

The premise of the administration’s diplomacy with Beijing seems to be that extracting promises to combat future climate change will evoke less aggressive behavior from China’s leaders. A China that reduces emissions, the thinking seems to go, is a China that wants to be a global good steward—and good stewards don’t start wars. The mere act of engagement, according to this thesis, is bound to lower temperatures, open new avenues of cooperation, and restore the United States to the status of global role model.

In reality, Beijing sees climate diplomacy as just another venue to gain strategic advantages over the United States and its allies. It has learned the West is easily gamed: China can extract concessions and encumber rivals with costly emission restrictions that slow their growth while avoiding similar restrictions on its own economy—simply by pledging to make such cuts in the far-off future. One need only look at China’s vast build-out of coal-fired power plants to see the lack of sincerity behind those pledges.

Reuters:

The United States hopes to launch arms control talks soon with China, which is expanding its nuclear arsenal and fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Thursday, without giving a timeline.

China is expected to double its nuclear missile arsenal in the next few years, whereas the United States and Russian Federation have made deep cuts in their stockpiles, he said.

See also: U.S. Cracks Down On Firms Said To Aid China’s Repression Of Minorities

The Gazette:

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned China that an invasion of Taiwan would incur incalculable costs as the senior Japanese politician and U.S. officials spoke up for the island democracy’s autonomy.

“When there is a threat over Taiwan and its democracy, it is a dire challenge to all of us, especially to Japan,” said Abe, who resigned from the premiership over health reasons but remains a heavyweight among Japanese legislators. “An adventure in military affairs, if pursued by such a huge economy like China’s, could be suicidal, to say the least.”

Abe’s reference to the economic costs of a conflict did little to dull the edge of the threat, as he emphasized the need for both Taiwan and Japan to coordinate security cooperation with the United States — which does not maintain official relations with the government in Taipei. And yet, that diplomatic lacuna has prevented neither Japanese nor American officials of late from characterizing Taiwan as the linchpin of Indo-Pacific security in the face of a rising Chinese Communist power.

See also: Blinken Vows More US Military Might In Indo-Pacific To Push Back Against China

Axios:

Press secretary Jen Psaki reiterated on Tuesday that the administration had been providing “technical assistance” to ensure the legislation could be implemented.