China and Taiwan have a long history of conflict, with China claiming that Taiwan is part of China, while Taiwan claims independence and practices self-governance. This past week, China has ramped up its military drills, sending jets over the Taiwan Strait and affirming its ambition to soon rule the island.

A statement from the Eastern Theater Commander relayed that, “multiple batches of H-6K fighters carrying live ammunition … carried out multiple waves of simulated strikes on important targets on Taiwan island.” Additionally, China warned that Taiwan’s independence and peace between China and Taiwan are mutually exclusive.

Taiwan is the world’s premier microchip producer. They export their chips worldwide, generating massive amounts of money for the country: 15% of their gross domestic product. The United States fully supports Taiwan partially because we depend on them to supply microchips for all of our electronics. 

China, for all intensive purposes, is jealous of Taiwan’s microchip quality. They tried and failed to replicate the chips. Instead, China is trying to control the microchip market by taking over Taiwan. This would make China even more of an economic superpower, threatening the world’s ability to produce technology without boosting China’s economy further. 

The United States would not be required to respond to an attack on Taiwan, but Biden said in 2022 that we would take military action if China attacked. This escalation could be catastrophic, but if there was no intervention, it would set a precedent that China can act unilateral with no reprecussions.

As Americans, we rely on products produced in China and Taiwan, so with an outright conflict looming, it is important now to attempt to de-escalate the situation.