Open conflict between China and the United States could be just two years away, according to an unusually blunt memo by a top U.S. general that is just the latest in a number of alarming predictions that the world's two leading military powers are at risk of direct collision, most likely over the fate of Taiwan.
The warning came from a top Air Force commander, Gen. Michael A. Minihan, who cited Chinese leader Xi Jinping's securing of a third term and the January 2024 presidential elections in Taiwan, the self-governing democracy of 23 million that Beijing claims as its territory, as reasons to accelerate troop preparation.