This is likely a bit of bluster for now, but it still must be weighed in the scales:

China's national legislature on Monday overwhelmingly approved a law authorizing a military attack to stop Taiwan from pursuing formal independence, a day after President Hu Jintao told the 2.5 million-member People's Liberation Army to be prepared for war.

The issue, as we've covered before, is the Chinese government's determination to one day rule over free (and very wealthy) Taiwan. There'd never be a bigger, or richer, feather in the hat of China's corrupt oligarchs than that of Taiwan. It also appears that the Chinese ruling class is using the Taiwan issue as a means of keeping control.

As China's economy has grown, the demands of the people of China for a share in government have also grown; but if there's war on the horizon (regardless of whether or not the Chinese government is causing the war), then China's government has its excuse for a lot of "not yet" to China's aspirations of liberty.

My view has been for a while now that the crisis wont come for about ten years; on the other hand, if China's economy is even more wobbly than some reports indicate, then the Chinese government might need a foreign crisis in the near term to deflect attention from it. We've got a lot to be concerned about here.