Bangladesh, May 14 -- The Taiwan issue has largely faded from the global spotlight amid the Hormuz Strait blockade, the explosions, and all the oil anxieties currently engulfing the Middle East. With Washington and Tehran once again edging dangerously close to direct confrontation, many observers may have assumed the Indo-Pacific theater had entered a temporary lull, so to speak. And yet another geopolitical crisis is quietly escalating: the latest developments have to do with Taiwan and involve the United States and the Philippines (plus Japan). This deserves close scrutiny.

The US and the Philippines have launched in fact the largest-ever edition of the (ongoing) annual Balikatan military exercises, involving over 17,000 troops alongsi...