After months of secretive planning, and preparing the crew to defend their ship if necessary, the Royal Canadian Navy has transited the Taiwan Strait.
As HMCS Ottawa entered the busy and strategically critical body of water at sunrise, it was flanked by three Chinese warships armed with missiles and torpedoes. They mirrored Ottawa’s moves for the entire 17-hour crossing.
Canada made the journey along with the USS Ralph Johnson, a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer, in what both countries describe as a freedom of navigation exercise.
Do you know anything about Chinese history? Governments have been overthrown because of their response to floods, not ownership of any particular island.
It was also a common belief that natural disasters such as famine and flood were divine retributions bearing signs of Heaven’s displeasure with the ruler, so there would often be revolts following major disasters as the people saw these calamities as signs that the Mandate of Heaven had been withdrawn.
Uh, if they cared that much about Taiwan they would have taken it by now. They care more about economic stability than “unity”. If you have a degree in “Asian Studies” that includes the Warring States period, you wouldn’t know about political science or economics. You know, recent history?
The “Mandate of Heaven” is just an idea, but they don’t want to go putting ideas of incompetent government in people’s heads. That’s why they either try to respond well to disasters or cover them up.
