(There’s salient history here with the Japanese and its occupation of Taiwan during World War II, but I’m going to skip over that for the sake of brevity.) But in a nutshell, the status quo refers to the fact that Taiwan is in political limbo and has been since 1949 when the Communists led by Mao defeated the Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek, who fled to Taiwan. To go deep here, check out this massive “Political status of Taiwan” Wiki page. Now let’s move on to what is often referred to as Taiwan’s status quo, or where Taiwan stands politically vis-à-vis mainland China and the rest of the world. It is almost beyond-the-pale complicated, including what’s called gray-zone warfare being deployed by the Chinese (defined by Reuters as “.an almost daily campaign of intimidating military exercises, patrols and surveillance that falls just short of armed conflict.”) To wit: Check out this massive multi-scenario war game piece by Reuters. (Some have compared Taiwan and its situation to Puerto Rico, which is off for all kinds of reasons, starting with all those much bigger numbers.) It has a population of 23.4 million, (56th biggest in the world), a GDP of $760 billion (21st biggest) and GDP per capita of $32,000, (29th). Taiwan isn’t really small, more like medium-sized. Two quick points: First, it’s extremely interesting, and second, don’t worry, I’ll boil it down for you.įirst, I was a bit hyperbolic earlier. You will see that the situation with Taiwan is massively complex, (second only perhaps to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict) where understanding requires an extensive peeling-of-the-onion exercise.
And that’s not good.īefore we get to those questions, let me first acknowledge the almost endless sensitivity and nuance surrounding Taiwan. Now for some reason Taiwan has moved from a tolerable friction point between the U.S. give a flying hoot?įurther, why is Taiwan such a big deal right now? (And a focal point of the virtual summit held this week between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping.) The disputed status of Taiwan has been an issue for almost three quarters of a century. Why does China care so much about this little island - and why should we in the U.S. Chang Kai Shek (CKS) Memorial Hall in Taipei, capital of Taiwan.