China’s People’s Liberation Army completed three days of military exercises around Taiwan aimed to express anger over the island’s President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week.

But the PLA drills were of shorter duration and less disruptive to regional air and marine traffic than those that followed then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan visit in August. That could mean Beijing is trying to balance its indignation against a desire not to worsen an already fractious U.S. China relationship.  

That show of force was as much for “domestic consumption inside China” as it was for Taiwan, says retired Vice Adm. Robert Murrett, professor of practice of public administration and international affairs. And the scale and intensity of the drills  “were calibrated very, very carefully,” to minimize threat perceptions, he says. 

Read more in the Politico article, “The Takeaway From China's Taiwan-Targeted Military Drills.”