War over Taiwan goes nuclear.
Michael T. Klare 22, The Nation’s defense correspondent, professor emeritus at Hampshire College, senior visiting fellow at the Arms Control Association, 10/13/22, “Could the Fight Over Taiwan Trigger Nuclear War?” https://www.thenation.com/article/world/china-taiwan-nuclear-war/ \\am
In the days that followed, China also sent nuclear-capable H-6 heavy bombers across the median line in the Taiwan Strait, a previously respected informal boundary between China and that island. Worse yet, state-owned media displayed images of Dongfeng-17 (DF-17) hypersonic ballistic missiles, also believed capable of carrying nuclear weapons, being moved into positions off Taiwan.
Washington has not overtly deployed nuclear-capable weaponry in such a brazen fashion near Chinese territory, but it certainly has sent aircraft carriers and guided-missile warships into the area, signaling its ability to launch attacks on the mainland should a war break out. While Pelosi was in Taiwan, for example, the Navy deployed the carrier USS Ronald Reagan with its flotilla of escort vessels in nearby waters. Military officials in both countries are all too aware that should such ships ever attack Chinese territory, those DF-15s and DF-17s would be let loose against them—and, if armed with nuclear warheads, would likely provoke a US nuclear response.