If there was to be a war between the US and China, then it's short odds that Taiwan would be the flash-point. I'm hopeful it won't happen, but it currently seems more likely than at any other time i can remember.

We've got fighter jets from both sides skirting the island, warships cruising around, full-scale military exercises, and escalating rhetoric - it's a powder keg.

It just takes one fatal encounter, accidental or deliberate, for the situation to lurch dangerously towards war.

There have been numerous incidents in the last few months - we can use this thread to document them as they happen.

The latest one involves a planned military operation by the PLA to stage a "simulated invasion of the Pratas Islands in the South China Sea this month."

Taiwan has sent reinforcements to the island.