The United States is taking a huge risk by assuming China’s recent rhetorical and military aggression directed at Taiwan is just more of the same diplomatic gamesmanship. It is time to take seriously the PRC’s intentions to regain unity with Taiwan through force.

In the Shangri-La Summit, the Trump administration introduced a new, muscular Indo-Pacific strategy, which is fueled by private interests and foreign governments - not the interests of the US, China or emerging Asia.

The U.S. military said it sent two Navy ships through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, a move likely to anger Beijing at a time of tense relations between the world’s two biggest economies.

As Taiwan’s 2020 presidential election approaches, both the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the opposition Kuomintang Party (KMT) face divisive, close-fought primary battles among multiple candidates. Growing political volatility in Taiwan poses a major threat to Washington’s cautious balancing between Taipei and Beijing.

The passage of the legislation supporting Taiwan reflects U.S. Congress push for a sharper approach to relations with Beijing.

A French warship passed through the strategic Taiwan Strait this month, U.S. officials told Reuters, a rare voyage by a vessel of a European country that is likely to be welcomed by Washington but increase tensions with Beijing.

Whatever kind of power Beijing decides to exert over Taiwan, whether it be soft or hard, the decision will have momentous consequences on both sides of the Strait.

Despite rising tension across the Taiwan Strait, Tsai has not rushed to seek independence, while the mainland has maintained its patient policy. Thus no crisis has yet emerged — still, Taiwan, mainland China, and the US should all strive to relax tension and resume peaceful cross-strait development to avoid a new cold war.

The United States sent Navy and Coast Guard ships through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, the military said, as the United States increases the frequency of movement through the strategic waterway despite opposition from China.

On January 2nd this year, after President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at a gathering to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the “Message to Compatriots in Taiwan” that called for Chinese unification, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait set off to explore the two-system solution to the Taiwan question.