In October, U.S. Navy chief of operations Mike Gilday warned that China could attack Taiwan before 2024, speaking of a 2022 or potentially a 2023 window.
Taiwan naturally had to respond to the remark. Chen Ming-tong, Taiwan’s top intelligence official, told Taiwanese lawmakers, "2023 must also be closely watched,” adding that Beijing could threaten war with Taiwan next year to try and force it to the negotiating table.
For his part, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised eyebrows by stating in a recent interview with Bloomberg that China decided “that they wanted to speed up the process by which they would pursue reunification.”