Good morning, and welcome to the Global Situation Report for Thursday, 22 August 2024.
- TAIWAN’S PRESIDENT TO VISIT KINMEN IN HONOR OF PRC-TWN CLASH: Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te announced this morning that he would visit Kinmen Island, a territory belonging to Taiwan but in a bay on China’s coast. The visit will commemorate the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis (23 Aug – 02 Dec 1958), the last clash between the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan that resulted in dead Chinese.
- The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis was also the last time the U.S. Navy directly participated in tension by escorting Taiwanese ships between Taiwan and Kinmen.
- While fighting died down in 1958, the two sides continued shelling each other using non-lethal artillery filled with propaganda pamphlets until the U.S. switched recognition in 1979.
Why It Matters: China has taken a hard stance against Lai’s independence stance and could use this as an excuse to launch a new set of blockading and quarantining exercises around Taiwan. – J.V.
- Global Rollup
- Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice convicted eight active duty and retired military personnel of spying for China this morning. The convicts will be imprisoned between 1.5 and 13 years. (These spies are dangerous to Taiwan’s defense plans and to U.S. national security as they likely have access to information on the weapon systems the U.S. gives to Taiwan, such as the Harpoon anti-ship missile, Patriot missiles, naval and air warfare tactics, datalinks, and electronic warfare capabilities. – J.V.)
- Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the United States Ambassador to accuse the U.S. of sending journalists and a private military company to aid Ukrainian forces in Kursk. The Russian Embassy in South Africa declared that the private military company is the Forward Observations Group, but the central Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not confirmed this.
- Russia’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman accused Japan of “erod[ing] the country’s nuclear-free status by joining the United States’ so-called joint nuclear missions.”
- The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) released a previously classified assessment that states both Russia and Ukraine are currently unable to launch new major offensives. Analysts assess the conflict remains headed towards a stalemate.
- Argentina, the United States, the European Union, and a dozen other countries are expected to announce the Minerals Security Partnership to take advantage of Argentine copper and lithium deposits and reduce dependence on Chinese supply chains.
THAT’S A WRAP: This does it for today’s edition. Thank you for reading. If you know folks who would also like to receive this email, would you please forward it to them? We appreciate you spreading the word. – M.S.