They are messaging the political authorities on Taiwan.

They are sending a message to Joe Biden.

They are sending a message to Tokyo.

They are sending a message to Indo-Paycom because this is both a political and a military message.

From the Heritage Foundation, I'm Dean Chang, and this is Heritage Explains.

With a voice like that, how could we not have Dean read our show opener?

Dean is our guest today, and we'll be explaining what's going on between China and Taiwan.

But I want to start off with a little primer in case anyone doesn't know the history of China and Taiwan.

Taiwan is an island in the Western Pacific Ocean, about 100 miles off the coast of southeastern China.

The Chinese Communist Party has never ruled Taiwan.

Yet China has done everything in its power to constrain Taiwan and limit its participation

in international organizations and the world community.

Despite this, Taiwan stands strongly for high degrees of both political and economic freedom.

In fact, Taiwan is the sixth freest economy in the world, just behind Singapore, New Zealand,

Australia, Switzerland, and Ireland,

according to Heritage's 2021 Index of Economic Freedom.

Recently, Chinese combat aircraft have been crossing the midline of the Taiwan Street,

a waterway that separates the island of Taiwan and continental Asia.

And this month, the Chinese made an even more aggressive move.

Tensions between China and Taiwan are being described as the worst in decades.

This, after Beijing, ordered waves of warplanes to fly repeatedly over Taiwan's air defense zone,

prompting accusations of intimidation.

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