India, May 17 -- Xi's phrase 'extremely dangerous situation' is not mere rhetoric. Missteps could trigger escalation

When Xi Jinping told Donald Trump in Thursday's closed-door talks that Taiwan could lead to "an extremely dangerous situation" if mishandled, he was not issuing a novel warning. He was articulating the structural reality of U.S.-China relations: beneath every summit, every trade negotiation, and every climate pledge lies the unresolved question of Taiwan. It is the permanent fault line that ensures tensions are never far from the surface.

The United States' "One China" policy, born of the Nixon-Mao rapprochement in the 1970s, deliberately left Taiwan's status ambiguous. Washington acknowledged Beijing's claim but did not ...