U.S. Allies Tighten Alliance to Contain China’s Maritime Expansion

August 6, 2020 — Voice of America News reports: “Australia’s recent shift to a more combative stance against China will tighten political and military coordination among U.S.-allied nations that want to check Beijing’s maritime expansion, analysts said this week.

Canberra broke its neutral stance toward China with harsh pledges and comments in May, June and July due to a series of problems with the communist government, despite brisk trade ties. In particular, Australia openly backed the United States last month by sending the United Nations a letter that described Beijing’s sovereignty claims in the contested South China Sea as illegal.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison suggested in a speech Wednesday that his country would work more closely with India, Japan and the United States – an ally already so close that a Chinese newspaper in May quoted a netizen calling Canberra a ‘dog’ of Washington.

Those four countries belong to a group dubbed the Quad, which formed in 2007 to discuss security issues in Asia, including China’s activities. Specialists predict more from the Quad, this time galvanized by Australia, even though the United States normally leads…”  (China will become a basic partner with Russia for the rapidly approaching battle of Armageddon – Revelation 16:16. Russia will lead invasion number one – Ezekiel 38 & 39. China will lead invasion number two – Revelation 16:12; Revelation 9:14 – 16. Then all nations will come against Jerusalem for the final invasion at which point Jesus will return to stop the bloodshed and set up his eternal kingdom upon earth – [He gathers] all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken… Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south – Zechariah 14:2 – 4. Then Psalm 2:6 occurs as God the Father says: …I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion [Jerusalem].  See the next two reports)

Modi warns China over border tensions

August 17, 2020 — SpaceWar.com reports: “India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a new warning to China over deadly border tensions on Saturday, using his most important speech of the year to promise to build a stronger military.

With talks on easing a military build-up in their Himalayan border region at a stalemate, Modi told an Independence Day ceremony that India’s sovereignty was ‘supreme’ and that relations with neighbours depended on security and trust.

Attendance at the historic Red Fort in New Delhi for the speech was cut by more than half to 4,000 people, all of whom sat two metres (six feet) apart because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Hindu nationalist prime minister mentioned confrontations with Pakistan and China on their disputed borders, but without naming either country…”

India uses arrival of new fighter jets to warn China

July 31, 2020 — SpaceDaily.com reports: “The first five Rafale fighter jets bought from France in a multi-billion-dollar deal landed in India on Wednesday, and the defence minister used their arrival to launch a veiled warning to neighbouring China over territorial tensions.

A water-cannon guard of honour greeted the five jets when they landed at the Ambala air base in Haryana state.

India has bought 36 Rafale fighters from France in a deal estimated to be worth $9.4 billion. All are scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2021.

An intense nationwide spotlight on the combat jets has been sharpened by a deadly border standoff with China.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the jets with a tweet in Sanskrit: ‘There is no sacrifice like the national defence; there is no good deed like the national defence; there is no practice like national defence.’

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the arrival of the fighter jets marked ‘the beginning of a new era in our military history’.

The jets will make the Indian Air Force ‘much stronger to deter any threat that may be posed on our country’, he added in a series of tweets…”