Five Reasons why China will not invade Taiwan (in the near future).

I discovered this video after publishing my earlier post on How China might invade Taiwan, and Would China invade Taiwan?

This video explains China's strategic vulnerabilities and why they would want Taiwan to strengthen their defences and strategic options.

How might China "invade" Taiwan?

In case you are wondering why a blog called "Singapore 2B" seems to be (overly) concerned with issues of China and her commitment to "reclaim"/reunite Taiwan, it is because China is a major player in the region, the top trading partner with Singapore (in 2020), and Taiwan is similar to Singapore in many ways.

Some of the vulnerabilities of Taiwan are also Singapore's vulnerabilities, and there may be lessons for Singapore. Or cautionary tales.

I have previously declared (in another blogpost):

If you got the impression... that China is unlikely to invade Taiwan (at least in the foreseeable future - say within the next 6 years) that was the most important point. I wanted to discount the probability of an invasion, at least in the foreseeable future. Base on the current balance of power and advantages and disadvantages, it is on balance better for China NOT to attempt to retake Taiwan, because it is likely to fail.

However, a core principle or truism in military strategy is, you do not PLAN for what the opponent SHOULD, or is LIKELY to do, but what he CAN do. China CAN decide to try to invade Taiwan. On balance, China should not as success is unlikely, and the fallout would be devastating, so China SHOULD NOT TRY to invade Taiwan. 

But she could.

And plans have to be made as if she would. 

BUT...

Vexation without representation - or why we should be allowed to vote in US elections.

When the US revolted against the British and fought for their independence, one of their rally calls was "No taxation, without representation". Briefly, as colonies of the British Empire, the colonists were required to pay taxes to the British, but they were not represented in the British Parliament.

The US colonists were upset that the British could make decisions and policies that affected the colonies, and that they had no say (no representation) to protect their interests. Hence the revolt.

Videos Explaining Vaccines

This is simply a collection of videos on vaccines. In case you are still "doing your own research".

First: mRNA was 50 years in the making. Not just developed in less than a year:

This 12 minute video explains various processes and problems and challenges over 50 years and how these challenges were overcome.

Khan and Singh

So the Committee of Privileges have called Raeesah Khan back. And even got her to undergo an psychiatric assessment. This was the news report:

Raeesah Khan stands by her evidence; psychiatrist says she did not have any disorder that would 'predispose' her to lying: COP report

So Khan had said that the WP leadership had advised her to continue to lie. Pritam Singh, WP sec-gen, and Leader of the Opposition had testified that she was not advised to continue to lie, and that she suffers from "disassociation", and would say things without thinking. Singh also said that he told Khan to take responsibility and ownership of the issue. Which he claims was his advice to her to tell the truth.

The other shoe drops...

Raeesah Khan testifies to privileges committee that WP leaders told her to keep to lie made in Parliament

• Speaking under oath, former MP Raeesah Khan said she was told by WP leaders to keep to a lie that she had made in Parliament 
• They also told her that if she and the party "could get away with it, there was no need to clarify the lie"
• WP volunteers who testified said the party’s disciplinary panel was "self-serving"
• This was because it was made up solely of the same WP leaders who knew Ms Raeesah had lied 
• Ms Raeesah also disputed assertions by WP chief Pritam Singh that she was ordered to clarify the truth and that she would be expelled from WP if she didn’t resign 

Open borders. Closed minds.

If you're like me and practically live on Facebook, this Monday (29 Nov 2021) was the first day of the opening of the borders between Singapore and Malaysia, and many people working in the other country can finally go home to the families.

In other related news, there is a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. 

Identified just last week, the variant now called Omicron (because WHO does not want to use "Nu" (pronounced "Nee") and "Xi". Because.) has been detected first in South Africa, and neighbouring countries, and now in Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, and Israel. South African doctors report that so far, symptoms have been mild and could be treated at home. 

Generally, viruses become more transmissible, but less deadly. Because a dead host cannot infect others (and further spread the virus).