The United States has long declared its goal to maintain a “status quo” that avoids an official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, discourages Taiwan from declaring independence, and as a result, effectively equates to there being no outbreak in hostilities. Washington’s ad nauseam recitation of U.S. support for the “status quo” — defined as the existing state of affairs — is, however, increasingly disconnected from both the reality of China as the “ most powerful adversary the United States has