Singapore's former top diplomat warned on Monday that a conflict in Taiwan would trigger a strong Chinese response. Former Foreign Minister George Yeo told Bloomberg Television, without naming anyone, that "people" don't understand just how deep an issue Taiwan is for China and underestimate the severity of a conflict if one were to come. Already fraught ties between the US and China have continued to deteriorate since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visited the self-governing island last month amid concerns a miscalculation could lead to conflict. "If there is conflict over Taiwan -- let us say that China loses the first few battles, gets bloodied -- it will evoke in the Chinese body politic a reaction as profound as that in the US of Pearl Harbor," he said. "This is that serious, and people who do not know the history do not realize the game they're playing." "There are people who think that Taiwan is a card to be played," Yeo said. "They don't realize how serious this game is. For China, it's deeply emotional." (https://news.yahoo.com/singapore-ex-diplomat-warns-not-062145528.html) Since Pelosi's visit, China has sent warplanes across the Taiwan Strait's so-called median line almost daily, shrinking a buffer zone that has helped keep the peace for decades. The flights show how Beijing is attempting to use the visit to establish a lasting presence closer to Taiwan.
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