The Chinese embassy helmed by Ambassador QIN GANG went loud and hard in a zone-flooding media blitz that included multiple press briefings, a Washington Post oped, a CNN appearance and a social media output mode set to 11. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) under Taiwan’s de facto Ambassador BI-KHIM HSIAO trod more lightly — mostly amplifying statements out of Taipei punctuated by Hsiao’s double header PBS and CBS TV interviews last week. (https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-china-watcher/2022/08/11/chinas-washington-diplos-outmuscle-taiwans-reps-with-media-blitz-00050960) That minimalist engagement suggests the Taiwan Foreign Ministry’s risk aversion to high profile diplomacy may have hamstrung Hsiao at a critical juncture in the decades-long U.S.-China standoff on Taiwan’s status. During the Pelosi trip furor, the Chinese embassy held two virtual media briefings within a seven-day span backed by Qin’s drumbeat of multiple daily tweets making the case for China’s assertions of sovereignty over Taiwan. That reflected a global Chinese diplomatic offensive.