My good friend who is Taiwanese and lives in Taiwan just told me about this so-called "blockade" that this is a non-issue, Chinese always does these military exercises... and he said that one of their warships sank!

So, I'm not sure this is some prelude to something larger. Or?

I haven't heard anything newsworthy on this side either. Merely standard military operations that happen regularly.

Seems just more like more blustering and pomposity given the new Taiwanese president isn't kowtowing to Beijing/Xi (let's be honest, while there are many who would like to have Taiwan back under mainland CCP control, most sane heads realise that's not going to happen anytime soon - it's bad PR. And they know that the rest of SE Asia isn't too happy with their belligerence. So, it's less a 'Beijing' thing, and more a 'Xi' thing. )

China has certainly gone backwards in international relations in the last decade, and that hasn't gone down too well with a lot of people. Sure, there's been some up sides, but Xi wanting more and more self-aggrandizement has come at the cost of many emerging upper class people. Things could - and *should* - have gone a LOT smoother if smarter, less egomaniacal, heads had prevailed.

I think it was a simulation. some of his ideas I think were a little flawed. But, we are already in ww3 and we basically havee the same sides again. I believe it will get worse

I brought this up, as Courtney had mentioned this as an incident during the recent broadcast "THE QUICKENING" -- in context, he said China was essentially creating a military blockade (if I recall correctly). That prompted me to ask someone I know, who lives in Taiwan.