How did the world’s two most powerful nations find themselves in a hair-raising crisis that could spill into a military conflict? The strangest aspect of the current conflict over Taiwan is how predictable it was.

Taiwan has been known to be the most sensitive issue for the United States and China, one that has been carefully managed for five decades. And recent visit to the island by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. — which triggered the current conflict — was something she signaled she intended to do months ago.

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