Hello and welcome to The Intelligence from The Economist. I'm your host, Patrick Lane. Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. Malaria kills 260,000 African children every year.

Why a vaccine approved this week could mark a turning point in the fight against the disease.

And you may have noticed that it's that time of year again, when the world's leading scientists, writers and peace pursuers hope for a phone

call from Scandinavia.

We take a look at past Nobel Prize winners and ask, does who you know matter more than

what you know?

But first... Taiwan does not seek military confrontation.

It hopes for a peaceful, stable, predictable and mutually beneficial coexistence with its neighbors.

Today, the Taiwanese president, Chai Ying Wen, sent out a message to leaders in China.

But Taiwan will also do whatever it takes to defend its freedom and democratic way of life.

Over the past week, Beijing has been delivering a message of its own to Taiwan.

If we want to attack, we can.

China marked its national day on October 1st by sending fighter jets and bombers towards,

but not into, Taiwanese airspace.

And it continued to do so for the next three days.

Taiwan scrambled jets, broadcast warnings and tracked Chinese aircraft with missile systems.

The island's defense minister, Chu Quo Cheng, says that relations between the countries are at their worst

in 40 years. He predicted that China would be ready to launch a full-scale attack by 2025.

On Wednesday, the American Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, pressed Beijing to stand down.

The activity is destabilizing. It risks miscalculation, and it has the potential to undermine regional peace and stability.

China has been ratcheting up these displays of military capability.

Threats of what could come if Taiwan refuses to accept Chinese sovereignty.

...