THESE DAYS, there are few hotter spots on the global circuit for retired government officials and military strategists than Taiwan. As dozens of policy experts from all over the world touched down for the Taipei Security Dialogue in November—the sort of event where you’d encounter a former U.S. Army secretary clad in a stars-and-stripes tie—a familiar topic took on fresh urgency: how to prevent a Chinese attack on the territory.
“Ukraine continues to fight against the Russian invasion, while conflicts continue to break out in the Middle East,” Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen told delegates. “It is clear that we cannot take peace for granted.”
Taiwan has teetered in a precarious geopolitical position for decades. It’s a self-governing democracy—it will elect its next president in January—but
