It is practically conventional wisdom that China’s invasion of Taiwan is nigh upon us.
Military officials, politicians and experts warn that the Chinese government and people are fixated upon uniting “the renegade province” with the mainland, that China’s supreme leader, Xi Jinping, is determined to make that his legacy and that the balance of forces is shifting in Beijing’s favor.
That last assumption is most worrisome. China has long harbored a desire for unification but has been thought to lack the capabilities to pull it off. If that is no longer true, then perhaps the most important factor in the equation has changed. But success is not assured and that doubt may be the very best deterrent to precipitous action by Beijing.
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