Last week mainland China got angry at something Taiwan's president said and held a series of military exercises around the island which involved over 100 military aircraft plus dozens of ships. The exercises were framed for domestic propaganda as a show of the mainland's love for Taiwan, i.e. we love you so much we won't let you leave.

“While China is thought to be cautious during this period, the drills send the message that Taiwan remains so sensitive, so important and crucial for the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party,” said Bonnie Glaser, the director of the Indo-Pacific program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a Washington policy research group.

Indeed, a crucial audience for China’s drills is the one at home. In propaganda messages, the Chinese Coast Guard sought to cast its exercises as a paternalistic gesture of love toward its Taiwanese compatriots, captured in a graphic depicting Taiwan surrounded by a line of red arrows in the shape of a heart.

The gesture fell flat in Taiwan, where on social media and political talk shows, commentators poked fun at the illustration, which was accompanied by the message “The patrol is in the shape of loving you.”

Many in Taiwan responded with a collective “ick.” Some compared the illustration to the mind-set of an abusive partner. Others said the graphic was “too disgusting” and called it “sexual harassment.”

China has literally become a creepy stalker to an entire nation of 23 million people, a nation that has never been run by the PRC. That was last week. Yesterday, China announced some additional live-fire drills on a piece of land closest to Taiwan.

Beijing announced late on Monday that an area around Niushan - an island 105km (66 miles) from Taiwan - will be closed for drills for four hours from 09:00 local time (01:00 GMT) on Tuesday.

Taiwan's premier Cho Jung-tai said on Tuesday that China should not be conducting such exercises given their threat to regional stability.

"No matter how large the scale of the drill is, they should not be frequent and close to Taiwan," he told reporters. "This will only cause unnecessary tension."

Officially, the drills have no connection to Taiwan but their location and timing suggest this is another attempt to send a message. Meanwhile the US sent a message back, with an assist by Canada.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76) and Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Vancouver (FFH 331) conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit on Oct. 20 (local time) through waters where high-seas freedom of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law. The ship transited through a high seas corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state. Higgins and Vancouver’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrated the United States’ and Canada’s commitment to upholding freedom of navigation for all nations as a principle. The international community’s navigational rights and freedoms in the Taiwan Strait should not be limited.

China can't give up on the dream of taking over Taiwan. Xi Jinping's personal prestige is bound to this project. So long as he is the dictator making the call, he will continue to escalate.

Finally, here's a pretty good NBC News report on the situation.