Straits Crises News Today

In the early stages of the Cold War, the United States and China nearly came to blows over a pair of small islands off China’s coast. In 1955 and again in 1958, China and the United States came dangerously close to active combat over control of Quemoy and Matsu, two small islands just off the coast of the mainland PRC.

Xi Jinping must make his move within a generation, before a growing India, climate change-induced ecological costs, demographic weakness, or even further political liberalization in China put Taiwan beyond reach.