China produces the first response to the West by flying over the skies of Taiwan

The showdown of the Chinese Air Force over the skies of Taiwan represents the most coherent response to Beijing’s intentions about what was agreed by the Western powers at the G7. The warning of Western leaders to the Chinese country that highlighted the importance of peace and stability on the Taiwan Strait, including through a peaceful resolution of the dispute, was perceived, as it was easy to imagine, as an interference in Beijing’s internal affairs. which has always considered Formosa as an integral part of its territory: an issue where other states, especially the USA, must not enter. Tension over Taiwan, whose government is not formally recognized by Washington, had already increased significantly with visits from US government officials and military aid from the United States, which is, in fact, Taipei’s main ally. China has never welcomed these developments and the adverse attitude that has developed from Western countries has determined the willingness to perform a show of strength. Beijing employed twenty-eight aircraft that reportedly entered the Taiwan Air Identification Zone. The feared resentment against the West thus immediately expressed what for Westerners and the US in particular, can only be understood as a provocation. In essence, an escalation of a military nature between the two parties would have started, without going through a political confrontation or economic conflict. It goes without saying that the dangerous potential that can arise from Chinese action promises to be dramatic. A possible scenario is that China implements repeatedly repeated threats to consider the military option to resolve the Taiwan issue, if this hypothesis were to become concrete for the US it would be impossible not to take sides in the defense of Taipei, with a possible involvement of other Western forces or the Atlantic Alliance itself. On the other hand, China cannot depart from the purpose it has publicly announced to the world, which is to prevent any attempt to break its sovereignty and security. In addition to Taiwan, this also involves Hong Kong and the Uighur issue. It is a question of defending, in addition to one’s own strategic interests, one’s image as an aspiring world power of the first level, which is part of Chinese ambitions and projects. Beijing’s mistake was that of wanting to relate to Western democracies without considering their point of view in the least and trying to impose their own with the use of soft power and economic strength, without succeeding in the intent. To dialogue with Western democracies, which are also the richest market in the world and therefore essential to China itself, the display of strength within the Chinese country and the neo-colonial attitude in developing countries cannot be accepted and European partners of the USA were waiting for nothing more than a president capable of reducing this opposition; opposition that is not only political but also economic: Chinese excessive power is badly tolerated by Westerners, who also use the violation of political and civil rights to sanction Beijing and try to reduce its economic weight. In the end, the issue, even geopolitical, risks being reduced to this element, which is however capable of dragging the relationship between the two parties to very serious effects. China’s warning is clear and it will be impossible not to take it into account.