James Lin is a historian of Taiwan and assistant professor of international studies at the University of Washington.
Lai Ching-te has been elected Taiwan’s next president in a vote widely presented as a rebuke to China. But millions of Taiwanese were more concerned by economic issues than geopolitics, with low-wage young voters swinging behind a third-party insurgent.
Taiwan has been subject to the machinations of great powers for much of its history. A better international order would ensure that all nations, big and small, have an equal voice in the global arena.
During the Cold War, US officials saw Taiwan as an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” and supported Chiang Kai-Shek’s dictatorship. Modern-day Taiwan has developed a democratic culture that shouldn’t be subordinated to confrontation between Washington and Beijing.