Xi Jinping.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

Over the past four days, Taiwan has reported a series of incursions by Chinese fighter jets into its air defense zone, with the largest one yet, involving 52 aircraft, taking place on Monday. Taiwan has scrambled its own fighter jets to ward off the Chinese planes, while the United States issued a statement on Sunday urging China to stop its "provocative" actions.

Just what is China up to? A Taiwan-based source quoted by Reuters speculates that "the Chinese planes were possibly conducting simulated attacks on U.S. carrier fleets, drills … that China has repeatedly carried out near Taiwan in the past few months." That may well be, but if it is, it could be a prelude to an attempted Chinese invasion of the island — an event that China may opt to undertake sooner rather than later because of the new defense alliance between the U.S., U.K., and Australia that includes the sale of American nuclear submarines to Canberra, a move that changes the balance of power in the region. Those subs won't arrive for years, and Beijing may be convinced it makes sense to act before their delivery.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.