That is news of importance far beyond this island. Asia has a batch of countries developing economically but not democratically. Just give Asians a full belly, the colonial West used to say. Taiwan is crowded, its cities are messy and its roadsides junk-strewn. But politically it is becoming quite handsome, a living denial of the slur that Chinese are content to live without political freedom.
Westerners have a way of thinking of Taiwan in relation only to China and their own interests.
Mostly they think nervously of how furious Beijing will get if the West gives any acknowledgment or respect to this island that the Communists say is their own province, now and forever. Its skin crawls with fear that Beijing will reduce the West's right to take part in the China trade and the privilege of buying from China billions of dollars more in goods than the West has any hope of ever selling to China. The worldwide diplomatic blockade that Beijing has created against Taiwan is not the worst of it. When Beijing thinks that the substantial movement toward an independent Taiwan is getting stronger, or sees the horror of democracy rising on this prosperous island so close to the mainland, the Chinese Communists mount menacing military operations. No pretense is made that the exercise and the ugly warnings by top military men are not aimed at intimidating Taiwan and aborting its growing fascination with democratic practice.