For all the similarities between Ukraine and Taiwan, there are important differences. At the top of the list are the parties involved: A conflict over Taiwan is likely to include direct U.S. involvement. There is no indication war over Taiwan is imminent, but if one broke out, it could pit the world’s two largest militaries against each other, with the world’s two largest economies hanging in the balance….

What’s the latest on the China-Taiwan tension?

Tensions have been rising since then-President Donald Trump made it U.S. policy to tighten ties with Taiwan….

Mr. Biden turned up the temperature during his first visit to Asia as commander in chief in May 2022. Asked by a reporter whether the U.S. would get involved militarily in a Chinese attack on Taiwan after declining to send American troops to Ukraine to fight Russia’s invasion, he said, “Yes. That’s the commitment we made….”

How has China responded to the increasing tensions?

China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army, has sent fighter jets, bombers and spy planes on hundreds of sorties near Taiwan over the past year. Taiwan describes the sorties and other military moves by China in the region as a form of “gray zone” warfare, designed to probe and exhaust the island’s defenses while discouraging Taipei from tightening ties with Washington and other democratic capitals.

China has often conducted military exercises around Taiwan in response to the presence nearby of U.S. aircraft-carrier strike groups.

Beijing has also begun a major expansion of its nuclear arsenal, partly in order to deter the U.S. from using its own nuclear weapons in a conflict over Taiwan.

What about Taiwan’s response?

Defense analysts have long questioned Taiwan’s ability to resist a Chinese attack. Taiwanese soldiers and reservists have themselves expressed concerns about training and readiness.

In response, Taiwan’s government established an agency to revamp reserve forces. It has also staged exercises it hopes will deter Beijing from contemplating an invasion….

What is strategic ambiguity?

Officially, the U.S. government abides by a “One China” policy that recognizes the People’s Republic of China as the country’s only legitimate government and acknowledges—but doesn’t endorse—Beijing’s claims over Taiwan.

Since 1979, U.S. policy toward the defense of Taiwan has been governed by a law known as the Taiwan Relations Act, which holds that any attempt to determine Taiwan’s political future through anything other than peaceful means constitutes a threat to American interests.

For decades, Washington has strategically avoided making a commitment either way, in the hope that uncertainty about its posture will prevent both Beijing and Taipei from making moves to upset the status quo.

Has the U.S. changed its stance on Taiwan?

It depends on whom you ask. Mr. Biden’s comments in May 2022 marked the third time the president has publicly said the U.S. would come to Taiwan’s defense. The first was in an August 2021 interview with ABC News about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, when Mr. Biden included Taiwan on a list of allies he said the U.S. was duty-bound to defend. At a CNN Town Hall event in October 2021, he responded to a question about the U.S. defending Taiwan by saying, “Yes, we have a commitment to do that….”

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(Excerpt from The Wall Street Journal. Photo Credit: Getty Images)