"Our troops are ready to fight at any time and can decisively crush any form of 'Taiwan independence'," Chinese officials had said some time ago.
Today a Chinese social media video (all controlled by Beijing) was released where it says: The wars in Gaza, Ukraine present a perfect opportunity for China to take over Taiwan, since the US has its attention elsewhere".
Military experts have been stating for months that the Chinese have been conducting military exercises as a dress rehearsal to blockade Taiwan by blocking it in sea and air traffic, an important strategic option that the Chinese military may pursue should it use military force to occupy Taiwan.
The appearance of the Shandong aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean suggests it could be used to deter foreign troops from coming to Taiwan's aid, said Han Gan-ming, a researcher at the government-backed National Defense and Security Research Institute.
China's military harassment of Taiwan has intensified in recent years with planes or ships sent to the island on an almost daily basis, with numbers rising in response to sensitive activities.
Military activity has increased sharply over the past two months, with Chinese PLA fighter jets regularly flying over the Middle Border Line.
Experts say Chinese Navy vessels regularly sail in the waters off Taiwan's northeastern coast.
The US Army is training a special force for conflict with China
The US Army is returning to the jungle with a training for a very different threat, the NYT reports.
Far from the deserts of the Middle East, the US military is instructing troops in Hawaii on the skills they need for a possible conflict with China.
The Americans place enormous importance on the Pacific theater of operations for obvious reasons, and their rivalry with China is now about global primacy.
The Chinese giant holds a large debt of the US, the EU, and controls almost most of the economic life of Asia, indeed ready for a dash for new conquests.
Taiwan has been a sore subject for the Chinese communists since the 1950s, and this country has always had plans to retake that island, waiting for the right opportunity.
With open fronts in the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, Ukraine, and Gaza, the Chinese feel it is the right time to surprise Taiwan, and close an old case that dates back 73 years.
The only absolute certainty is that if a US-China military conflict were to start, the Turks would rush into the Aegean to seize what they consider to be theirs, in the context of the new Ottoman Empire they dream of.
