Record Number of Chinese Warships Swarm Taiwan

China sent 16 warships into the waters around Taiwan within a 24-hour period, setting a provocative new one-day record, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry reported on July 15. The milestone comes just after the Chinese military flew 73 aircraft in a three-day period into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone or across the median line dividing the two nations.

• Taiwan is a democratic island nation of 23.6 million people.
• The overwhelming majority of Taiwanese wish for the country to be internationally recognized and fully independent, charting a path into the future based on the will of the people.
• China’s leaders view Taiwan as part of China and claim they will use military force, if necessary, to subdue Taiwan.
• The United States supports Taiwan and gives it military equipment and training so it can deter a Chinese invasion.

The Trumpet said: In 1998, after Bill Clinton became the first American president to yield to Chinese pressure and issue a statement opposing Taiwanese independence, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry said it meant Taiwan’s days of freedom were numbered. He wrote:

The Chinese leaders pressured the President and America to speak against our freedom-loving friends before the whole world. …

The people of Taiwan fear for their future. They feel betrayed. …

Once again, America has showcased its broken will to the whole world. …

How could anyone fail to see that Taiwan is destined to become a part of mainland China? These [24 million] people are going to be forced into the Chinese mold; and it is going to happen for one reason: because of a pitifully weak-willed America.

Does freedom really mean so little to us?

Mr. Flurry’s view of America’s weak will, and how it will factor into the China-Taiwan dynamic, is based on Bible prophecy. Leviticus 26 records God warning the descendants of Israel—mainly modern Americans and British—that if they refused to turn to Him, then He would “break the pride of [their] power” (verse 19).

Learn more: Read “Taiwan Betrayal.”