Joe Biden administration faces early tests from China, Russia

America’s main international rivals have wasted no time in testing the resolve of the Biden administration to defend U.S.

Over the weekend, just days after President Biden took office, China staged a major escalation of its military pressure campaign against Taiwan.

Peskov said in an interview Sunday on a state TV channel, The Moscow Times reported.

Navalny’s release and European Union officials said Sunday the bloc plans to meet this week to discuss the situation in Russia.

He offered last week to extend the soon-to-expire New START arms control treaty after the Kremlin and the Trump administration failed to reach a deal.

Kremlin press secretary Dmitri Peskov said Sunday that the U.S.

The early challenge from China, which developed an increasingly antagonistic relationship with Washington in the final days of the Trump administration, has been even less subtle for Mr.

Taiwan’s defense ministry announced that eight Chinese bombers and four fighter jets were detected entering the southwestern corner of the air defense identification zone Saturday.

The aircraft flew in international airspace but inside the air defense identification zone, prompting Taiwan to deploy air defense measures in response.

The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said jet interceptors were ordered to track the flights and radio warnings were issued along with the deployment of air defense missile systems to monitor the activity.

During the Trump administration, more than $12 billion in arms were offered to the government of independence-leaning Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, including 66 F-16 jets and missiles capable of reaching the Chinese mainland.

Biden made a point of inviting Taiwan’s de facto ambassador in Washington to his inauguration last week, the first such invitation since the Carter administration formally recognized the Beijing regime as China’s official government.

Indo-Pacific Command announced Saturday that the aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Roosevelt had entered the South China Sea, where China has claimed disputed islands.

The carrier is conducting what officials said were routine operations.

Chang said the Roosevelt voyage was also sending a message to Beijing as it passed through the Taiwan Strait on the way to the South China Sea.

“Essentially what the Biden team is saying to China [is] that they had better leave Taiwan alone, especially with our carrier strike group,” he said on Fox, adding that he expected Chinese pressure on the Biden administration to escalate in the coming months.

In another bit of message-sending, the Pentagon revealed over the weekend that newly confirmed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had made two of his first official overseas calls to his counterparts from South Korea and Japan — two longtime allies that likely will be key in dealing with China and North Korea.

The Japanese Defense Ministry said Mr.

Austin and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi discussed the importance of the bilateral alliance to “the peace and security of the Indo-Pacific region” — a term favored by the Trump administration to define the ring of U.S.-East Asian alliances designed to contain Chinese aggression.

Relations with Seoul and Tokyo were strained over the past four years as the Trump administration pushed for both allies to bear a greater financial share of the joint defense burden

South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook said Sunday’s call came at Mr

nor the South Korean statement referred to the stalled cost-sharing talks or U.S

commitment to defend [South Korea through both the U.S.-South Korea] combined defense posture and the U.S

The South Korean Defense Ministry said the two men agreed to meet in person “in the near future” for more intensive talks