No Taiwan invasion – Xi’s peacemaking, example of Ukraine, economic risks, and semiconductors

All that said, the actual risk of imminent Chinese military action against Taiwan remains low. Beijing always flexes military muscle when highest-level U.S. and Taiwanese officials meet face to face. Yet, though Speaker McCarthy’s visit with Taiwan’s president marks the highest-level U.S.-Taiwan meeting on US soil since 1979, China’s latest response was less militarily threatening than its reaction to last summer’s visit to Taiwan by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi – and Beijing is well aware that Washington will notice that.

More importantly, Xi is spending considerable energy these days on playing a larger role on the global stage, particularly as a peacemaker. He has offered a 12-point peace plan for Ukraine he hopes will encourage others to see China as a global mediator, even if this particular plan has no chance of success. This past weekend, Xi welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission Chairman Ursula Von der Leyen to Beijing for discussion of the Ukraine war and the future of China’s relations with Europe more broadly. Though Xi didn’t promise his European guests to lean harder on Russia, the Chinese and French governments issued a joint statement pledging they would work together to bring Russian and Ukrainian negotiators to the bargaining table.

This follows the remarkable visit to China of the foreign ministers of Middle East rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, where they agreed under China’s mediation to improve their historically contentious relationship. Most importantly, just days ago, Taiwan’s former president Ma Ying-jeou became the first current or former Taiwanese leader to visit the mainland since Taiwan broke away in 1949, and during his visit he spoke of the “common inheritance of blood, language, history and culture” between the two sides, raising hopes in Beijing that reunification can still be achieved without risking a potentially catastrophic conflict. In short, Xi Jinping wants to be (at least perceived as) a peacemaker, and though Taiwan’s future remains of far more importance to him that any of these issues, China’s president is unlikely to reverse all these diplomatic victories by stumbling into a costly war.

There are more basic reasons why China is unlikely to move against Taiwan soon. Xi has watched carefully as Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has provided a vivid demonstration of just how unpredictable, costly, and humiliating an ill-conceived war can be. Taiwan, backed with generations of sophisticated and powerful American weapons, has been preparing for a possible Chinese invasion even longer than Ukraine has prepped for a full-frontal assault from Russia, and given the complete lack of Chinese combat experience over the past 44 years, Xi understands that the risks of Pyrrhic victory – or even of defeat – are real. At a time when China is emerging from the world’s most draconian lockdown and its worst economic slowdown in decades, Xi is likely to be extra careful about the fights he picks. At least for now.

There’s also the critical issue of semiconductors. About 90 percent of the world’s most sophisticated computer chips are made in Taiwan. Aware of the risk this creates, China, the U.S., and others are working as quickly as possible to lessen the risk of economic catastrophe that would result if that production were dramatically slowed or even halted, but self-sufficiency in chip production is years away for every country. China is loath to risk conflict that would leave its economy without access to the 21st century’s most important economic resource.