President Donald Trump’s visit to Asia and expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC Summit in South Korea on Thursday will be pivotal. While trade and rare-earth exports will dominate headlines, the deeper contest is ideological: democracy versus authoritarianism, conscience versus control.
At the center of this struggle is Taiwan, the flashpoint nation whose fate will determine whether the next century is led by free nations that honor the human spirit or by regimes that command it.
Xi has ordered China’s military to be ready to conquer Taiwan by 2027, framing it as essential to his vision of “national rejuvenation.” Yet, behind the rhetoric lies insecurity. Repeated purges of senior military leaders signal Xi’s fear of dissent. Authoritarian rulers facing domestic instability often turn outward; for Xi, a crisis over Taiwan could rally nationalist fervor and solidify control. From childhood, Chinese citizens are taught that Taiwan’s separation is a national humiliation caused by U.S. interference. “Reunification” offers Xi both redemption and absolute power.
But defending Taiwan is both a moral duty and a necessity. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company produces roughly 60% of global semiconductors and over 90% of the most advanced chips. A Beijing takeover would give China control of the global semiconductor supply chain, affecting industries from AI to satellites and weapons systems. This danger is not hypothetical. China has weaponized economic dependence to punish nations that resist its demands. When Australia called for a COVID-19 inquiry in 2020, Beijing imposed tariffs costing billions in exports, signaling defiance comes at a cost.
If Beijing seized Taiwan, it would dominate the Taiwan Strait, a vital artery for $586 billion in annual trade and trillions in goods. Such control would reshape the global economy by allowing Beijing to project military power against Japan, Australia, and across the Pacific Ocean region. America’s alliances are moral compacts among free peoples, proving that strength and conscience are inseparable. Abandoning them would betray both interests and ideals.
To be clear, Taiwan is not China. After Chiang Kai-shek retreated to the island in 1949, generations grew apart from China. When martial law ended in 1987, citizens reclaimed their voice by reviving languages, restoring indigenous rights, and building a vibrant civil society. Today, Taiwan is among Asia’s most dynamic democracies. Its people identify as Taiwanese, bound by liberty rather than ethnicity. Like America’s founders, they show democracy is a universal human calling.
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For eight decades, the democratic international order has endured because it honors a fundamental truth: the human soul is meant to be free. Taiwan stands as a living testament to that truth, a society choosing liberty over fear and conscience over control.
Letting that light go out would mean losing more than an island; it would mean surrendering the belief that freedom is the soul’s native language.
Derek Levine, Ph.D., is a professor at Monroe University and King Graduate School. He is the author of the book, China’s Path to Dominance: Preparing for Confrontation with the United States.
