Eyck Freymann

They recognize that if they declare independence, that this could bring the hammer down on them.

But their point of view is we will never declare independence because we already are.

And Americans, I think, are about to have to learn this lesson because Taiwan is going into a presidential campaign.

And it is far from clear where the wind is blowing.

And the United States will have to work with whoever wins because that's what it means to have a partner that's a democracy.

These two parties have very different points of view.

And one of the points I make in the book is we need to learn to handle Taiwan's domestic politics.

We are two democracies that respond to one another.

For example, I think the KMT, if they come back to power, will be much less interested in helping America reshore chip production.

And they're also probably much less interested in doing military cooperation with the United States if that's going to inflame China.

I think basically you can think about it this way.

The DPP believes that the relationship with the United States is the most important thing, that we matter to them just as they matter to us, and that if Taiwan gets in trouble, America will come.

And the KMT views are diverse, but they tend to have the view the cavalry might not be coming.

The Americans might be using us as a pawn in a bigger geopolitical game, but can we really trust them?

And we don't want to become Ukraine.

So maybe the best approach is to negotiate.

And these are two very different points of view.

They're both plausible interpretations of the facts, and the United States has to learn to deal with both sides.

It's hugely, hugely important.

It's only a couple of percent.