Ian’s Quick Take. China Escalates on Taiwan; US-China Relations Get Worse. Source: GZERO

The Biden administration has enjoyed some good news this past week — perhaps its strongest week ever — between the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPs Act, as well as the successful assassination of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri in Afghanistan. But there is one bit of very bad news on the geopolitical front: the US-China relationship hasn’t been this strained since Tiananmen. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan led to a calculated escalation of live-fire drills and trade suspensions by China. While those are likely to lift soon, the trip didn’t accomplish any strategic US goals. What it did manage to do, however, was sharpen Beijing’s strategic focus on Taiwan.