Support for Taiwan is often presented as a binary: the West either defends a fellow democracy or abandons it to authoritarianism. But the real dilemma is not moral. It is strategic. For all the attention given to allied resolve, far less is said about the internal resolve of Taiwan itself. And as the threat from Beijing intensifies, that asymmetry becomes harder to ignore. It is now commonplace to speak of deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, through submarines, alliances, and multilateral forums. Yet deterrence is not a gift. It is a relationship. It requires reciprocity. And the unspoken anxiety among allies is this: what if Taiwan does not hold up its end of the bargain?
Is Taiwan prepared to fight for itself? (Vincent So – The Interpreter)
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