Posted on July 20, 2022
While the political elites in Washington and Brussels push for ever more radical policies that devastate West’s agriculture, economy and industry, Communist China is waging an unfettered war on environment on a global scale.
In latest move, China is weaponizing massive sand-dredgers to carve up the coast of Taiwan, the island nation that Beijing wants to annex.
According to media reports, Chinese dredgers are sneaking into Taiwan-controlled waters and carrying away tons of sand off the coast of the country. The illegal Chinese operation threatens island nation’s existence and maritime life in the region.
“China is increasing its dredging of sand in the islands’ waters. It’s a devious activity that gets Beijing much-needed sand—and presents Taiwan with large expenses and maritime degradation,” the DC-based journal Foreign Policy reports in its latest edition.
“From China’s point of view, however, harassing Taiwan over sand is a double win; it grabs a needed resource and puts an extra burden on Taipei, forcing Taiwan to divert vital financial and military resources to its coast guard,” the Foreign Policy added.
Besides its conventional use in infrastructure and industry, the sand from the ocean floor could be a key ingredient for the batteries of the future. “Sand is on its way to becoming more crucial. This month, a Finnish company pioneered a sand-powered energy storage system. With renewable energy dependent on the weather, such storage systems can ease the world’s urgently needed transition to renewable energy,” the policy journal noted.
China Ramping Up Military Maneuvers Against Taiwan
Meanwhile, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army is scaling up its war games near to shores of Taiwan. “Mainland China has adopted a more aggressive military posture towards Taiwan, holding more combat-readiness drills near the self-ruled island since the beginning of the year,” The South China Morning Post reported Sunday citing defense analysists.
The Hong Kong-based daily added that the “Chinese Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army conducted several large-scale joint combat-readiness exercises in the waters and airspace around Taiwan on July 8.”
PLA’s “Eastern Theatre Command spokesman Shi Yi told reporters that the command had stayed on high alert and strengthened military training for war preparedness,” the newspaper added.
Since President Joe Biden took office, Beijing has stepped up its violation of Taiwan’s air defense space — deploying fighter jets and nuclear-capable bombers to intimidate the tiny nation.
China’s Grab for Global Resources
The Chinese expansionism is not limited to the Strait of Formosa or the South China Sea, Beijing is sending massive fishing fleets to exploit the Oceans from the coast of Africa to the shores of South America.
“China’s vast fishing fleet, by far the world’s largest, has been overfishing seas much further from the world’s gaze than the islands known for their giant tortoises and iguanas,” UK daily The Guardian reported August 2020. “From West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea to the Korean peninsula, the fleet has moved into the waters of other countries – switching off transponders to avoid detection, depleting fish stocks and threatening food security for often poor coastal communities.”
The impoverished continent of Africa is also in China’s crosshairs. “Small-scale fishermen on Madagascar’s east coast are disturbed by the growing presence of Chinese fishing trawlers in the island nation’s waters,” the security journal African Defense Forum reported November 2021.
“In the last several years, at least 14 Chinese industrial vessels have likely fished in Madagascar’s waters, according to an analysis by OceanMind, a United Kingdom-based nonprofit organization that specializes in marine compliance and fisheries management,” the periodical noted.
In Africa, China seeks more than just maritime resources. Beijing loaned around $160 billion to 43 African governments between 2000-2020. These massive credits give the Communist giant access to continent’s untapped natural resources and agricultural land. Africa accounts for some 60 percent of the globe’s arable land. The ‘debt-trap,‘ created by these unsustainable loans, make Africa vulnerable to Chinese exploitation.
