General Milley reports that China's military has become more
aggressive in dealing with US military forces since 5 years ago.
China states repeatedly that it intends to capture Taiwan; we know
from what we saw in Hong Kong that this would mean subjection and
repression.
When China posed no real threat of conquering Taiwan, it was safe to
smile at China's pretensions of doing so, and avoid ostentatious
support for Taiwan. But now that the threat is real, the US needs to
face up to it with a calm, explicit visible commitment to Taiwan's
defense. That means that China can't order the US to limit its ties
with Taiwan.
The present aggressive confrontations are harassment, intended to
pressure Taiwan and the US to step on the path of yielding. That,
above all, they must not do. To argue that "Pelosi should not visit
Taiwan now because China might respond by increasing the harassment"
is the first step of abandoning Taiwan.
However, it would be a mistake to treat these harassments as if they
were real attacks — for instance, to respond aggressively. The only
response to these acts of harassment should be the necessary defensive
precautions in case one turns into a real bombing raid.