Chen is pushing the envelope and forcing the United States to draw a line to show him where the limit is.

The United States wants a manageable status quo. It doesn’t want to see things out of control.

It’s not in the U.S. interest to push Chen into a corner.

China has to calculate how to respond to not annoy the (Taiwan) populace and not fall into Chen’s trap. Chen wants a strong reaction from China. They are watching what the United States does next,...