Matt Bevan

And Xi makes absolutely no secret of this desire.

China has staged giant military exercises simulating the invasion of the island, and ships have been built and modified specifically for that purpose.

But all this preparation doesn't negate two facts.

One is that modern advances in weaponry have meant that every attempted invasion of the 21st century has gone incredibly badly for the guy doing the invading.

The other thing he's ignoring is that he's already at Zuxfeng himself, meaning many of the potential moves that China could make would weaken their position.

And that's because despite all of the preparation, China's economy is still very fragile.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz in March has shown that even a small blockade can disrupt global supply chains enough to have serious effects on China's economy.

But that's just the start of it.

Xi Jinping has got 99 problems, and the Strait of Hormuz is just one of them.

In fact, he's got more like 1.4 billion and 99 problems.

Ever since he took office in 2013, the spectacular economic growth that the Chinese Communist Party uses as justification for their authoritarianism has been in decline.

And it's putting the Chinese people in financial distress.

The employment environment is not that good.

Education costs are very high, and China's patchy public health care system only provides basic care.

A serious illness can wipe out a family's finances.

So Chinese people tend to save their money rather than spend it.

Most put that money in what they consider to be a safe investment, property.

The trouble is... Across China, the property sector has collapsed.

International investors are bailing.

Massive dysfunction in the property and construction industries led to a financial meltdown.