1. For the same reason the Americans defended West Berlin during the Cold War, because we all knew if West Berlin fell, freedom would die in that part of the world. Taiwan is the most free and vibrant democracy in the region and is also at the forefront of today’s fight between freedom and tyranny, facing another authoritarian bully. Taiwan deserves America’s support if freedom and democracy still mean anything at all to us Americans. To let the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) take over Taiwan will inflict incalculable reputational cost to the U.S. and our global leadership, let alone a devastating blow to our friends and allies around the world.
2. Taiwan holds a strategic chokepoint in preventing the CCP from breaking through the American defense perimeter in the western Pacific. Taiwan is the most crucial strategic stronghold in the First Island Chain south of Okinawa. If Taiwan fell to the CCP, America’s defense parameters in the Asia Pacific from Japan, the Republic of Korea in northeast Asia to the Philippines and Singapore in the South China Sea would be broken up midway and U.S. vital national interests in the Pacific, including Guam and Hawaii, in addition to global commons such as the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, would be subject to more imminent and direct threats from the CCP. In this sense, defending Taiwan is also the first defense of the U.S. when the People’s Republic of China has clearly shown its belligerence toward the U.S. interests in the region.
3. Taiwan is a key economic and technology partner of the U.S. that serves as a trusted supplier of vital parts and materials to many of America’s vital industries, especially in electronic parts and high-quality semiconductor chips. To keep Taiwan’s vibrant democratic capitalism from the CCP’s domination is crucial to America’s endeavor to diversify the supply chains of our critical industries and alleviate our suicidal supply-chain dependence on the PRC.
4. Taiwan has the most sophisticated understanding, rich experiences, and highly efficient tool kits to deal with its old foe, the CCP that has now become a global threat. The world can learn many things from the Taiwanese in dealing with the CCP: The miracle of Taiwan's COVID-19 prevention and mitigation is critically hinged on Taiwan’s utter distrust of the CCP/WHO propaganda and lies from day one. In today’s global awakening to and coalescence against the CCP threat, Taiwan has proved to be a force for good, and an inspiration for the Chinese world. If democracy should come to China one day, our best and most efficient partner should be Taiwan. A partnership with Taiwan, not its demise at the hand of the CCP, is crucial to our common cause to eradicate the CCP’s authoritarianism.
5. The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act mandates the U.S. government to maintain Taiwan’s defense capabilities proportional to the military threat posed by the CCP. Defending Taiwan therefore is not a new U.S. commitment. It’s been a decades-long promise and Taiwan has become a major recipient of U.S. military sales of key weapons platforms. That’s good for Taiwan, and it’s good for America too.
