China always does these flex exercises so this is nothing. If China wanted to invade Taiwan they would have done it already. The reason they have not has nothing to do with the military and more to do with messing up their revenue stream. The impact of invading Taiwan has way more reprocussions on China ability to do trade within the western nations than anything else. China GDP is just as dependant on trade with western nations and messing that up is a bigger concern with them than anything else. Now if they find a way to make deals where they do not have to depend on western nations, then we will see more tractions towards making a move for Taiwan.
While there are a lot of countries who would love for another country to take the US position, I am sure a lot of them isn't thinking China would be a better option.
