An urgent, indispensable guide to why Taiwan matters - for China, the West and everyone-s future-A thorough and nuanced analysis of Taiwan-s history, present and potential future- Michael Booth, author of The Almost Nearly Perfect PeopleWhen the bloody Chinese Civil War concluded in 1949, two Chinas were born. Mao-s Communists won and took China-s mainland; Chiang Kai-shek-s Nationalists fled to Taiwan island. Since then, China and Taiwan have drifted into being separate political and cultural entities. Taiwan is now a flourishing democracy and an economic success story: just one of its companies produces over 90 per cent of the semiconductors that power the world-s economy. It is a free and vibrant society. For the United States and the West, the island is a bastion of freedom against China-s assertive presence in the region. And yet China, increasingly bellicose under Xi Jinping, insists Taiwan is part of its territory and must be returned to it. Should China blockade the island and
