China – The Silent Maneuver
Since February 28, 2026 - the day the first U.S.-Israeli bombs fell on Iran - China has not sent a single military aircraft into Taiwan's air defense zone. Six days of silence in a strait where escalation had become the baseline. This is not de-escalation. It is calculation: while the United States burns through munitions in the Persian Gulf, delays arms deliveries to Taiwan, and China quietly builds the options it needs for 2027, Beijing is holding the quiet - because right now, it doesn't need anything else.