Two developments concerning relations between the United States and Taiwan took place within the last month, and it is testimony to the absurdness that is 2020 that they have gone largely unnoticed.

The first was the declassification of two cables sent in 1982 delineating America’s commitment to Taiwan’s security: one from U.S. Under Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger and the second from Secretary of State George Schultz, both to James Lilley, director of the American Institute in Taiwan (the closest thing America has to an embassy in Taipei since Jimmy Carter told all of Taiwan’s diplomats to go home in 1979).