America and China find very little common ground these days.. However, on the issue of Taiwan, in at least one respect, they are in complete agreement.. Status quo around self-governing island claimed by China and whose flourishing democracy America backs is changing in dangerous ways, officials on both sides say. War does not seem imminent, but the tenuous peace that has endured for more than six decades is fragile, The Economist writes..

However ask the parties who is to blame and the harmony will break.

This is clear from the crisis caused by this month's visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.. She was in her right but her ride was provocative. This infuriated the Chinese Communist Party. One of Pelosi's predecessors visited the island in 1997, but China said that American " After Pelosi left, China fired missiles at the island and conducted military exercises, surrounding it as if rehearsing a blockade..

After the previous standoff in 1995-1996, America, China and Taiwan became concerned about the ambiguity and contradictions - the status quo, if you will - on which the world is precariously held together.. China, in particular, showed a grin. If the world wants to avoid war, it urgently needs to strike a new balance.

In part, this reflects the astounding changes that have taken place over the past half century.. Taiwan has evolved from a military dictatorship to a thriving liberal democracy with a population of 24 million, almost all of the island's inhabitants are Chinese, ethnic Han Chinese.. Its citizens are more than twice as rich as those on the mainland. Their success is an implicit reproach to China's authoritarian regime and an obvious reason why they resist being ruled from Beijing.. Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen has made no formal moves towards independence, but the island is moving away from the mainland. China's \? same deal. Today, very few Taiwanese say they want formal independence immediately, if only because it would likely provoke an invasion.. But even fewer are in favor of an early unification.

America has changed too. After two interventions to protect Taiwan in the 1950s, Washington began to question whether it was worth defending, but the island's Democratic success and importance as a semiconductor manufacturer raised the stakes.. Today, allies like Japan see strong support for Taiwan as a test for America as the dominant and credible power in the Western Pacific.. America made no formal commitment to defend Taiwan directly, instead adopting a policy of " But amid growing Sino-American rivalry and politicians in Washington doing their best to sound tough on China, there is little doubt that America will join the fight over Taiwan today.. Indeed, President Joe Biden has repeatedly stated this, although each time his employees "

But no country has done more to disrupt the status quo than China.. Whether peace will last largely depends on Chinese President Xi Jinping. It gives enough reason to be pessimistic.. As China grew rich, it nurtured an ugly, paranoid nationalism, highlighting every humiliation it suffered at the hands of perfidious foreign powers.. He linked the unification with Taiwan to his goal of " Chinese military builds capacity to take island by force; her navy now has more ships than America. Some generals in Washington think an invasion could happen in the next decade.

Fortunately, while China's actions in this crisis have been brawny but measured, they were designed to show their anger and power while avoiding escalation.. His forces were deployed so as not to start a war. America sends similar signals. Washington postpones planned test launch of intercontinental ballistic missile. And Pelosi's plane took a detour to Taiwan to avoid overflying Chinese bases in the South China Sea..

The danger is that China is using the crisis to set new boundaries for its incursions into what Taiwan considers its airspace and territorial waters.. Beijing may also try to impose even stricter restrictions on the island's relations with the rest of the world..

This shouldn't happen. The challenge for America and its allies is to counter these efforts without getting into a fight.. America could start by restoring pre-crisis norms. For example, the US should immediately resume military activity around Taiwan, including transit through the Taiwan Strait and operations in international waters China claims as its own.. Washington could continue to expand military exercises with allies, involving them more in contingency planning for Taiwan. Japan was annoyed when China fired missiles at her and signaled that she could intervene in the war, which would make it much more difficult for a Chinese invasion..

The goal is to convince China that such an invasion is not worth the risk.. It makes sense to use the Taiwan Policy Act (TPA), which is now before Congress, to provide Taiwan with more trainers and weapons.. But Taiwan needs a better strategy based on mobility, the mobile weapons that Ukraine has used so well, rather than the costly, hulking weapons that its generals prefer.. The island should become a " Like Ukraine, Taiwan also needs to be more prepared to defend itself.. Its military has long suffered from corruption, waste and scandal..

[see_also ids\u003d"

Sometimes public confrontation with China makes sense. Most often it brings a lot of trouble for very little benefit.. The G7 condemned China's missile exercises, as did Japan and Australia. But South Korea didn't, and Southeast Asian countries were reluctant to take sides.. Even while condemning China's aggression, the Biden administration should stress that it does not support formal Taiwan independence.. Congress should avoid symbolic moves that do not really benefit the island, such as renaming the Taiwanese representation in Washington.. Why not make a trade deal instead?

War is not inevitable. Despite all the ambitions of Chinese leader Xi, his priority is to stay in power. If the invasion of Ukraine teaches a lesson, it is that even a seemingly easy victory can turn into a protracted struggle with devastating consequences for the aggressor country at home.. America and Taiwan do not need to prove that the Chinese invasion will fail, just enough to create enough doubt to convince Xi to wait and not take aggressive action..

Earlier it was reported that Xi Jinping plans to personally meet with Biden in November. Chinese leader may meet with Biden for the first time since he became US president.