The go to of United States (US) House speaker Nancy Pelosi to the self-ruled island of Taiwan — claimed by China — and Beijing’s unleashing of “resolute and strong countermeasures” for what it sees as grave provocations in opposition to its core pursuits have ushered in a harmful part of strategic instability. With neither of the 2 rival nice powers keen to blink, fears that “extreme competition” (US President Joe Biden’s characterisation of ties with China) will spill over into army clashes have turn out to be much less theoretical than they appeared some time in the past. The expectation that Washington and Beijing will compete onerous however handle tensions under a sure threshold remains to be legitimate, however it’s hanging by a thread.