CHINA: WAKING UP TO THE NEXT SUPERPOWER

CHINESE TROOPS LAUNCHING missiles that splash down perilously close to Taiwan and put its armed forces on high alert. A U.S carrier task force cruising the area, another sailing toward it. Washington assessing whether--and how--it might have to help Taiwan should the island be attacked by China. These are the most serious signals to date about the state of relations between the world's sole remaining superpower and its sole up-and-coming superpower. One misstep and one misperception after another in recent years have bumped the U.S. and China closer to crisis. The latest rupture has been triggered by China's harsh warning to...