It's been decades in the making.
Everyone knows it.
China and the United States have been on a collision course for 70 years - one that's been steadily accelerating over the past two decades.
Two powers - one established (if not descending) and one aspiring - circling and testing each other until ultimately the subtext becomes text and the cold war suddenly turns hot.
Even if that tension is just simmering, it's ever present. And in the past few weeks, it's really come to boil because Nancy Pelosi has been very publicly toying with a potential visit to Taiwan.
Now, I can't even begin to tell you how irresponsible and asinine this is.
What does Nancy Pelosi think she's going to achieve there?
Nothing, obviously. This is just another empty gesture from the queen of empty gestures.
Perhaps the most abhorrent icon of America's gerontocracy, Pelosi never does anything that isn't profoundly self-serving and garishly self-aggrandizing.
There is no point to this visit. Its motivation is painfully transparent.
It's simply an effort to distract from her party's inability to govern. It's a sideshow stealing bandwidth from high inflation, a flagging economy, unaffordable homes, deepening climate crises, and other serious issues that are far more pressing.
The only thing that could possibly come of it is a photograph she can hang on her wall and point to in lieu of actual accomplishments.
That, and of course, the most deadly and disruptive military conflict since World War II.
And that's where we're headed.
Because China is furious about this. And it's not just mock outrage. It's real. China takes this kind of thing very seriously.
Remember, Beijing was infuriated when President Trump took a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-wen, after his 2016 election win.
And that was just a phone call - a phone call that upended decades of diplomatic protocol but a phone call nonetheless.
Now a high-ranking government official wants to visit?
That's really pushing it, especially since Joe Biden ratcheted tensions higher just a few months ago when he said the United States would use force to defend Taiwan if necessary.
That, too, upended U.S. diplomatic precedent.
And earlier this month, a group of six U.S. senators traveled to Taipei, further inflaming tensions.
Also in July, the State Department approved the sale of $108 million in military assistance to Taiwan.
It's not hard to see why China would view these acts as provocative.
And they're certainly something President Xi Jinping would like to dissuade.