Tensions between several countries and Russia have the possibility of triggering a third world war. This time around, Russia’s defense ministry announced that it had intercepted the presence of US jets over the Bering Sea.
Last week, Moscow launched its MiG-31 and Su-35 warplanes in an attempt to intercept the presence of US B52-N strategic bombers over the Bering Sea. While the American warplanes did not violate Russian airspace but were seen approaching its border. The Russian planes were also announced to have landed safely after the incident.
“Russian airspace control devices over the neutral waters of the Bering Sea detected three air targets approaching the state border of the Russian Federation. The state border of the Russian Federation was not violated,” said the statement released by Moscow. The country’s defense ministry also released video footage of the incident.
This incident occurred a few days after Russia claimed that it launched a fighter jet to intercept a US warplane over the Black Sea. The country’s National Defense Control Centre said that its warplane identified the aerial target to prevent it from crossing the country’s airspace.
Russia’s encounters with the US as of late also follow tensions that occurred back in June, when Russia claimed its naval and aerial forces threatened to open fire on the UK’s Royal Navy’s HMS Defender when it made a transit through Crimea. Crimea is currently being occupied by Russia, which has claimed sovereignty over it back in 2014. Western nations do not acknowledge this as such.
A similar situation that could start a world war is between several other nations against China over the island nation of Taiwan. China claims sovereignty over the democratically-ruled state, treating it as a breakaway province. Beijing has not ruled out taking over the island through the use of military force.
A committee by the Chinese Communist Party in the northeastern region of Shaanxi reposted a video threatening to use nuclear weapons on Japan should they intervene with China’s reunification of Taiwan to the mainland.
“When we liberate Taiwan, if Japan dares to intervene by force, even if it only deploys one soldier, one plane, and one ship, we will not only return reciprocal fire but also start a full-scale war against Japan,” said the narration in the video. “We will use nuclear bombs first. We will use nuclear bombs continuously until Japan declares unconditional surrender for the second time. What we want to target is Japan’s ability to endure a war. As long as Japan realizes it cannot afford to pay the price of war it will not dare to rashly send troops to the Taiwan Strait.”