Beijing redefines what is 'acceptable' even as Taiwanese attitudes appear to be hardening further.
Taiwan has been on high alert as Beijing's conducted live fire drills around the island
What's more, the very idea that mainland China might one day attack Taiwan to seize the territory by force is now being considered a likely possibility by many more Chinese people.Other, more peaceful strategies for achieving what China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi described as Taiwan's "return to the motherland" are not being discussed currently - or certainly not in any detail.
As one laughing nationalist in Beijing put it when he was interviewed in the street last week, "Thanks comrade Pelosi"!US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen during her visit American media has also reported that calls from the US Defence Secretary, Lloyd Austin, and General Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, have gone unanswered from the Chinese side.
At the top of this list is Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen. She has been singled out for special opprobrium. Minister Wang called her an "unworthy descendant of the Chinese nation" - in other words, a traitor.