US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's headline-generating visit to Taipei has reminded the world how much Taiwan matters to China. But Taiwan also should matter to the democratic world.
It is no secret that the Communist Party of China (CPC) is committed to unifying Taiwan (which it views as a breakaway province) with the mainland. The United States formally recognised the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China in 1979, and Western powers have since mostly refrained from recognising Taiwan as a separate country. This "One China" policy, together with rising nationalist sentiment in China, makes a Chinese takeover of the island in the coming decades seem likely, if not inevitable.
