US election: The Taiwan-sized challenge facing the next US president

2020-10-28 14:22:38

Is China preparing to invade Taiwan? It's a question being discussed with feverish intensity on many China forums right now. And what should be one of the top geopolitical concerns for the incoming US president. The temperature was raised further on 13 October when China's President Xi Jinping visited a People's Liberation Army (PLA) Marine Corp base in southern Guangdong province and told the marines there to "prepare for war". In response some newspapers ran headlines suggesting an invasion is imminent. It almost certainly isn't. But there are good reasons for the urgency with which China experts are now discussing the future of Taiwan. China and the United States have long stared at each other across Taiwan. Beijing insists the island of 23 million people is China's "inviolable territory". Washington says any resolution of their long separation must be done peacefully. For decades, the uneasy stalemate has continued. Until now.