An urgent, indispensable guide to why Taiwan matters – for China, the West and for everyone’s future

When 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 the island Taiwan. Since then, China and Taiwan have drifted into being separate political and cultural entities.

Taiwan is now a flourishing democracy, has a successful economy – underpinned by a single company producing 85 per cent of the world’s semiconductors: the beating heart of the world economy – and a free, diverse society. For the US and the West, the island is a bastion of freedom against Chinese aggression 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 mount an invasion the US may intervene, leading to all-out war pitching the world’s biggest economies and militaries – China and the US – against each other. Taiwan is thus an explosive powder keg in geopolitical terms.

Why Taiwan Matters helps us understand how and why we’ve arrived at this dangerous moment in history – and what we can do to avoid disaster and plot a safe route into the future. With unparalleled access to Taiwan's political leaders and a deep understanding of the country’s history and culture, Professor Kerry Brown provides a new reading of Taiwan, its 23 million people, and how they navigate being caught in this frightening geopolitical standoff. This is the essential book delving into Taiwan’s story, buried behind the headlines, told in an accessible, expert and urgent way.