If Xi Jinping orders the People’s Liberation Army to take Taiwan by force, can the island turn itself into a porcupine and muster wholesale “societal resistance” from its 23 million people? Brent Crane reports from Taipei.
Students learn how to use an airsoft gun from Taiwanese military instructors at Kaohsiung Municipal Sanmin Senior High School, January 11, 2024. Credit: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images
One sweltering morning last month in Taipei, Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te spoke before a sea of supporters in matching white baseball caps and a regiment of solemn soldiers. It was Taiwan’s first National Day, he noted to applause, in which the island had spent more days as a democracy than under authoritarian rule. “We firmly believe that strength is not obtained through military strength alone,” the president proclaimed. “But must also rely on resilience throughout society.
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Concrete outcomes are hard to discern, but Xi Jinping will see the treatment he received from Trump as a sign that China is now a peer of the United States.
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