China's 900th Final Warning
Russian proverb meaning a warning that carries no real consequences.
With China delivering yet another ‘Final Warning’ to Speaker Pelosi warning her not to visit Taiwan I’m reminded of the Russian proverb, “China’s Final Warning” or “Последнее китайское предупреждение”.
Relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America during the 1950s and 1960s were strained due to the Taiwan Strait issues. American military fighter jets regularly patrolled the straits, which led to regular formal protests being lodged by the Chinese Communist Party. In China, they issued over 900 "final warnings" to the United States for their fighter maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait, albeit with no real consequences. Thus, it is a common sentiment in Russia that Chinese warnings are merely warnings without consequences. Eventually, "China's Final Warning" became a catchphrase and proverb in Russia as a result.
The People's Republic of China released its first warning to the United States for their reconnaissance flights on 7 September 1958, during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis. At that time, the United States considered the Republic of China as the sole legitimate representative of China and conducted reconnaissance flights in waters controlled by the People's Republic of China. The People's Republic of China recorded such incidents and issued warnings through diplomatic channels for each incident. The precise number of Chinese warnings is difficult to be evaluated but is considered to have occurred more than 900 times by the end of 1964.
Chinese "Final Warnings" were regularly broadcast publicly. Since then, "China's Final Warning" became a metaphorical catchphrase within the Baltic states and former USSR countries, and regional variations of the proverb arose as a result. The term was widely used in languages of the former Soviet states and was used especially in Estonian. [Source: Wikipedia]