Commentary On Oct. 4, 56 mainland Chinese combat aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait and illegally penetrated sovereign Taiwanese airspace. That aerial “show of force” rated as the largest mainland Chinese airspace violation since 1949 when Chinese Nationalist soldiers retreated to the island and dug in. According to numerous media reports, the 56-plane demonstration by the Chinese Communist Party’s Peoples Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) culminated three days of sustained military saber-rattling harassment. There have been other sustained military displays, including combat engagements, such as the air and artillery battles in the late 1950s. The Eisenhower administration’s support for Taiwan led to a stalemate and a ceasefire. But with Ike in charge the Communists thought twice. In the 2021 President Joe Biden geopolitical context, the Oct. 4 violation was a multidimensional diplomatic and military probe in the form of a calculated outrage designed to generate maximum media headlines. The headlines erupted. …