Is the Chinese Communist Party Inching Closer to Taiwan?
With so much trouble at home, the CCP is under more pressure than ever.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will travel to the Middle East over the coming weekend amid mounting tensions between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
“Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have soared since Israel launched the nightly raids in the West Bank last spring, following a spate of Palestinian attacks,” wrote Matthew Lee for the Associated Press yesterday. “The conflict has only intensified this month, as Netanyahu’s government came to office and pledged to take a hard line against the Palestinians.”
Besides violating its own stylebook’s new guidelines, and being overly broad in its description of “the Palestinians,” the Associated Press should consider a second hotspot of escalating conflict.
The South China Sea.
The Chinese Communist Party seems to be a bit cowed at the moment after its failure to achieve zero Covid coincided with a failure to prevent massive, widespread protests over its draconian lock-down policies.
Does the CCP’s new would-be softened tone extend to Taiwan?
Many world leaders, press organizations, and foreign policy experts aren’t convinced.