The US must avoid war with China over Taiwan at all costs | Daniel L Davis

The prevailing mood among Washington insiders is to fight if China attempts to conquer Taiwan. That would be a mistake

Since last Friday, the People's Republic of China has launched a total of 155 warplanes - the most ever over four consecutive days - into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone; Ned Price said the state department was very concerned". There have been more than 500 such flights through nine months this year, as opposed to 300 all of last year.

Before war comes to the Indo-Pacific and Washington faces pressure to fight a potentially existential war, American policymakers must face the cold, hard reality that fighting China over Taiwan risks an almost-certain military defeat - and gambles we won't stumble into a nuclear war.

Daniel L Davis is a senior fellow for defense priorities and a former lieutenant colonel in the US army who deployed into combat zones four times. He is the author of The Eleventh Hour in 2020 America