{"id":114647,"date":"2022-08-11T12:23:45","date_gmt":"2022-08-11T16:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=114647"},"modified":"2022-08-11T17:53:20","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T21:53:20","slug":"economist-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=114647","title":{"rendered":"(Economist) How to prevent a war between America and China over Taiwan"},"content":{"rendered":"

America and\u00a0China agree on very little these days. Yet on the subject of Taiwan, at least in one regard, they are in total harmony. The status quo surrounding the self-governing island, which China claims and whose thriving democracy America supports, is changing in dangerous ways, say officials on both sides. War does not look imminent, but the uneasy peace that has held for more than six decades\u00a0is fragile<\/a>. Ask them who is at fault, however, and the harmony shatters.<\/p>\n

That much is clear from the crisis triggered this month by a visit to Taiwan by the speaker of America\u2019s House of Representatives,\u00a0Nancy Pelosi<\/a>. She was well within her rights, but her trip was provocative. It infuriated the Chinese Communist Party. One of Ms Pelosi\u2019s predecessors had visited the island in 1997, but China\u2019s top diplomat claimed that American \u201csaboteurs\u201d had wrecked the status quo.\u00a0After Ms Pelosi left<\/a>, China fired missiles over the island and carried out live-fire drills that encircled it, as if it were rehearsing for a blockade.<\/p>\n

Since the previous stand-off in 1995-96, America, China and Taiwan have all grown uneasy with the ambiguities and contradictions\u2014the status quo, if you will\u2014on which peace precariously rests. China, especially, has\u00a0bared its teeth<\/a>. If the world is to avoid war, it urgently needs to\u00a0strike a new balance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The status quo surrounding Taiwan, which China claims and whose thriving democracy America supports, is changing in dangerous ways, say officials on both sides https:\/\/t.co\/NjXho4LRNv<\/a><\/p>\n

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) August 11, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n