The immediate danger to Taiwan shouldn’t be exaggerated

Editorial: While the brinkmanship, hostile language and wider collapse in Sino-American relations is an obvious threat to stability, the encirclement exercise is part of a pattern of response

The Chinese alignment with Russia over Ukraine is another, more substantive, focus for resentment (AFP/Getty)

About the best that can be said for China’s dangerous high-profile military exercises around Taiwan – explicitly designed to demonstrate the ease with which the breakaway island can be “sealed off” – is that at least they are not the real thing.

Indeed, despite the vast show of strength over a three-day period – at least 70 Chinese aircraft, including Su-30 fighters, H-6 bombers, 11 ships and an aircraft carrier – there remains no immediate threat of an invasion.

That said, the brinkmanship, hostile language and wider collapse in Sino-American relations is an obvious threat to stability in a region that already has Kim Jong-un randomly firing missiles, seemingly to remind everyone that he’s still a player.