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A lot of international politics — not all, but more than one might like — plays out as middle-school level power/status games. More precisely, it comes down to interactions between smart, cagy, ego-driven, and effectively amoral participants. It's incorrect to describe behavior on this level as 'tantrums' because the term 'tantrum' implies an uncontrolled emotional response. If an age-typical middle-schooler shows something that looks like a tantrum, we can rest assured that it is behavior calculated to appear that way in order to produce a certain type of social pressure.

In this particular case, China has been steadfastly and peremptorily claiming Taiwan as part of its territory. This is a standard bully-tactic: claiming something as one's one, and then using brusque menace to keep other people away from it. The idea is that (eventually) other people will give in to the menace and allow the bully to have what it wants by default. In other words, China has been trying to establish de facto dominance that will eventually become de jure dominance as other nations shy away from conflict. When Pelosi went to Taiwan, she effectively challenged that claim; she knocked the chip off the bully's shoulder, as the saying goes. This put China in a bind. They could not allow the challenge to go unanswered, otherwise the entire strategy for bullying Taiwan into submission falls to pieces. They also could not attack Pelosi or the US directly because that would have risked a direct military response from the US, which is more than China wants at the moment. So they did the only thing they could do: scale up their aspect of menace so that everyone knows they are still claiming Taiwan as their own. And so we get massive military exercises, angry recriminations against the US, and other snippy, chest-beating behaviors.

There's nothing here more sophisticated than (say) a jealous boyfriend puffing up his chest out and flexing his biceps because his girl talked to another guy, and the message is the same: "stay away from what I claim as mine, or you're gonna get it".

A lot of international politics — not all, but more than one might like — plays out as middle-school level power/status games. More precisely, it comes down to interactions between smart, cagy, ego-driven, and effectively amoral participants. It's incorrect to describe behavior on this level as 'tantrums' because the term 'tantrum' implies an uncontrolled emotional response. If an age-typical middle-schooler shows something that looks like a tantrum, we can rest assured that it is behavior calculated to appear that way in order to produce a certain type of social pressure.

In this particular case, China has been steadfastly and peremptorily claiming Taiwan as part of its territory. This is a standard bully-tactic: claiming something as one's one, and then using brusque menace to keep other people away from it. The idea is that (eventually) other people will give in to the menace and allow the bully to have what it wants by default. In other words, China has been trying to establish de facto dominance that will eventually become de jure dominance as other nations shy away from conflict. When Pelosi went to Taiwan, she effectively challenged that claim; she knocked the chip off the bully's shoulder, as the saying goes. This put China in a bind. They could not allow the challenge to go unanswered, otherwise the entire strategy for bullying Taiwan into submission falls to pieces. They also could not attack Pelosi or the US directly because that would have risked a direct military response from the US, which is more than China wants at the moment. So they did the only thing they could do: scale up their aspect of menace so that everyone knows they are still claiming Taiwan as their own. And so we get massive military exercises, angry recriminations against the US, and other snippy, chest-beating behaviors.

There's nothing here more sophisticated than (say) a jealous boyfriend puffing his chest out and flexing his biceps because his girl talked to another guy, and the message is the same: "stay away from what I claim as mine, or you're gonna get it".

A lot of international politics — not all, but more than one might like — plays out as middle-school level power/status games. More precisely, it comes down to interactions between smart, cagy, ego-driven, and effectively amoral participants. It's incorrect to describe behavior on this level as 'tantrums' because the term 'tantrum' implies an uncontrolled emotional response. If an age-typical middle-schooler shows something that looks like a tantrum, we can rest assured that it is behavior calculated to appear that way in order to produce a certain type of social pressure.

In this particular case, China has been steadfastly and peremptorily claiming Taiwan as part of its territory. This is a standard bully-tactic: claiming something as one's one, and then using brusque menace to keep other people away from it. The idea is that (eventually) other people will give in to the menace and allow the bully to have what it wants by default. In other words, China has been trying to establish de facto dominance that will eventually become de jure dominance as other nations shy away from conflict. When Pelosi went to Taiwan, she effectively challenged that claim; she knocked the chip off the bully's shoulder, as the saying goes. This put China in a bind. They could not allow the challenge to go unanswered, otherwise the entire strategy for bullying Taiwan into submission falls to pieces. They also could not attack Pelosi or the US directly because that would have risked a direct military response from the US, which is more than China wants at the moment. So they did the only thing they could do: scale up their aspect of menace so that everyone knows they are still claiming Taiwan as their own. And so we get massive military exercises, angry recriminations against the US, and other snippy, chest-beating behaviors.

There's nothing here more sophisticated than (say) a jealous boyfriend puffing up his chest out and flexing his biceps because his girl talked to another guy, and the message is the same: stay away from what's mine, or you're gonna get it.

A lot of international politics — not all, but more than one might like — plays out as middle-school level power/status games. More precisely, it comes down to interactions between smart, cagy, ego-driven, and effectively amoral participants. It's incorrect to describe behavior on this level as 'tantrums' because the term 'tantrum' implies an uncontrolled emotional response. If an age-typical middle-schooler shows something that looks like a tantrum, we can rest assured that it is behavior calculated to appear that way in order to produce a certain type of social pressure.

In this particular case, China has been steadfastly and peremptorily claiming Taiwan as part of its territory. This is a standard bully-tactic: claiming something as one's one, and then using brusque menace to keep other people away from it. The idea is that (eventually) other people will give in to the menace and allow the bully to have what it wants by default. In other words, China has been trying to establish de facto dominance that will eventually become de jure dominance as other nations shy away from conflict. When Pelosi went to Taiwan, she effectively challenged that claim; she knocked the chip off the bully's shoulder, as the saying goes. This put China in a bind. They could not allow the challenge to go unanswered, otherwise the entire strategy for bullying Taiwan into submission falls to pieces. They also could not attack Pelosi or the US directly because that would have risked a direct military response from the US, which is more than China wants at the moment. So they did the only thing they could do: scale up their aspect of menace so that everyone knows they are still claiming Taiwan as their own. And so we get massive military exercises, angry recriminations against the US, and other snippy, chest-beating behaviors.

There's nothing here more sophisticated than (say) a jealous boyfriend puffing up his chest out and flexing his biceps because his girl talked to another guy, and the message is the same: "stay away from what I claim as mine, or you're gonna get it".

A lot of international politics — not all, but more than one might like — plays out as middle-school level power/status games. More precisely, it comes down to interactions between smart, cagy, ego-driven, and effectively amoral participants. It's incorrect to describe behavior on this level as 'tantrums' because the term 'tantrum' implies an uncontrolled emotional response. If an age-typical middle-schooler shows something that looks like a tantrum, we can rest assured that it is behavior calculated to appear that way in order to produce a certain type of social pressure.

In this particular case, China has been steadfastly and peremptorily claiming Taiwan as part of its territory. This is a standard bully-tactic: claiming something as one's one, and then using brusque menace to keep other people away from it. The idea is that (eventually) other people will give in to the menace and allow the bully to have what it wants by default. In other words, China has been trying to establish de facto dominance that will eventually become de jure dominance as other nations shy away from conflict. When Pelosi went to Taiwan, she effectively challenged that claim; she knocked the chip off the bully's shoulder, as the saying goes. This put China in a bind. They could not allow the challenge to go unanswered, otherwise the entire strategy for bullying Taiwan into submission falls to pieces. They also could not attack Pelosi or the US directly because that would have risked a direct military response from the US, which is more than they want at the moment. So they did the only thing they could do: scale up their aspect of menace so that everyone knows they are still claiming Taiwan as their own. And so we get massive military exercises, angry recriminations against the US, and other snippy, chest-beating behaviors.

There's nothing here more sophisticated than (say) a jealous boyfriend puffing his chest out and flexing his biceps because his girl talked to another guy, and the message is the same: stay away from what's mine, or you're gonna get it.

A lot of international politics — not all, but more than one might like — plays out as middle-school level power/status games. More precisely, it comes down to interactions between smart, cagy, ego-driven, and effectively amoral participants. It's incorrect to describe behavior on this level as 'tantrums' because the term 'tantrum' implies an uncontrolled emotional response. If an age-typical middle-schooler shows something that looks like a tantrum, we can rest assured that it is behavior calculated to appear that way in order to produce a certain type of social pressure.

In this particular case, China has been steadfastly and peremptorily claiming Taiwan as part of its territory. This is a standard bully-tactic: claiming something as one's one, and then using brusque menace to keep other people away from it. The idea is that (eventually) other people will give in to the menace and allow the bully to have what it wants by default. In other words, China has been trying to establish de facto dominance that will eventually become de jure dominance as other nations shy away from conflict. When Pelosi went to Taiwan, she effectively challenged that claim; she knocked the chip off the bully's shoulder, as the saying goes. This put China in a bind. They could not allow the challenge to go unanswered, otherwise the entire strategy for bullying Taiwan into submission falls to pieces. They also could not attack Pelosi or the US directly because that would have risked a direct military response from the US, which is more than China wants at the moment. So they did the only thing they could do: scale up their aspect of menace so that everyone knows they are still claiming Taiwan as their own. And so we get massive military exercises, angry recriminations against the US, and other snippy, chest-beating behaviors.

There's nothing here more sophisticated than (say) a jealous boyfriend puffing up his chest out and flexing his biceps because his girl talked to another guy, and the message is the same: stay away from what's mine, or you're gonna get it.