On June 24, 2022, a U.S. spy plane provocatively flew over the Taiwan Strait. The next day, the U.S. Navy sent a warship, the USS Benfold, to the South China Sea. According to Jeremy Kuzmarov, sending U.S. warships into the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait violated international law, specifically the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. See https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/07/07/bidens-reckless-new-provocation-ratchets-up-risk-of-nuclear-war-with-china/
Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesperson of the People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theater Command, slammed the spy plane's flight path as being “intentional,” whose purpose was to “disrupt the regional situation and endanger the cross-Straits peace and stability. We firmly oppose this,” she said.
When President Biden made a commitment in October, 2021 to back Taiwan militarily, he effectively overturned the One China Policy — established when the U.S. resumed diplomatic relations with China in 1979 — that recognized Beijing to be the legitimate government of all China, including Taiwan. See https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59005300
According to Jeremy Kuzmarov, “Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which China has ratified but the U.S. has not, nations are entitled to territorial waters stretching 12 nautical miles (22 km) from their coast. They may also claim an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) stretching another 200 nautical miles — beyond that are the high seas. At its widest, the Taiwan Strait spans about 220 nautical miles; however, at its narrowest, it is 70 nautical miles — meaning recent U.S. actions are illegal.”
If China had decided to shoot down the U.S. plane or sink the warship, it would arguably have had the legal right to do so under the UN Charter, which has been the foundation of international law since the UN was founded in 1945. What would the Biden Administration have done next? Launched missiles at China or its warships? The conflict could quickly have escalated into a full-scale nuclear war that might kill every person on earth. Extinction is forever.
To provoke a military conflict with China, Russia, or any other country is an impeachable offense. The Administration is recklessly playing with the lives of everyone on earth — for no legitimate reason.
(Geoff Young won the Democratic nomination for the US House of Representatives in Kentucky's 6th Congressional District on May 17, 2022. He will face the incumbent, Republican Andy Barr, in the general election on November 8, 2022. His campaign website is Young4ky.com)