> China’s military flew 38 fighter jets and other warplanes near Taiwan, the Taiwanese defense ministry said Friday, in the biggest such flight display since the large military exercise in which it simulated sealing off the island earlier in April.

I'll buy that Chinese in China have that view, but flying 38 fighters near Taiwanese airspace is China actually using force.

At the same time, I do see China's larger gripe. Between Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, The Philippines, and Singapore, China's access to the open seas is boxed-in by western allies. Russia has a similar gripe with a warm-water port in Crimea and NATO slowly closing in on Russia by growing the alliance east.

But at the same time. You would think that if China does in fact believe Taiwan is theirs, then why would they bomb their own (eg. valuable TSMC, etc) infrastructure vs play the long game and take over politically.

Also, their sorties are more like a dog barking. It’s showing force, like North Korea doing those parades and launching missiles.

Russia has multiple ports on its own black sea coast and before 2014 was building them out, especially Novorossiysk, to host the Black Sea Fleet, for when the lease of Sevastopol runs out.