The Taiwan guessing game Washington has long kept Beijing at bay over Taiwan with ambiguity over how it would react. Now it is being pressured from all sides into a perhaps risky change of policy. Michael Crowley Share If anything can tip the global power struggle between China and the United States into an actual military conflict, many experts and administration officials say, it is the fate of Taiwan. Beijing has increased its military harassment of what it considers a rogue territory, including menacing flights by 15 Chinese warplanes near its shores over recent days. In response, Biden administration officials are trying to calibrate a policy that protects the democratic, technology-rich island without inciting an armed conflict that would be disastrous for all.