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Taiwan matters for three overlapping reasons. The first is geographic. Taiwan sits at the center of the first island chain, between Japan and the Philippines. If Beijing controlled it, the Chinese Navy would have unimpeded access to the open Pacific. The second is political. Xi Jinping has tied his legacy to “national rejuvenation,” and in his telling, that includes resolving the Taiwan question on Beijing’s terms. Whether Taiwan’s future is decided peacefully — without coercion, and in accordance with Taiwan’s democratic wishes — will define the future of regional order. If China can seize Ta

The Silicon Shield is real, but it’s also overrated. Both Washington and Beijing have a strong interest in TSMC continuing to function. Neither side wants to be cut off from advanced chips. China has spent enormous sums trying to build a domestic alternative, with limited success at the leading edge. The U.S. passed the CHIPS Act and is subsidizing TSMC fabs in Arizona and elsewhere. But Taipei has banned TSMC from making its most advanced chips abroad, so the bleeding edge stays on the island for the foreseeable future. That mutual dependence does create a deterrent against the most catastrop

We’ve concentrated the most strategically important manufacturing capacity in human history on a single island, 100 miles from a hostile great power, with no meaningful redundancy and no serious plan for what happens if it’s disrupted. That’s not a Taiwan problem; it’s a choice the rest of the world made, and it’s a choice that even in the best case-scenario would take years to undo.

Delivery platforms use sophisticated weather algorithms to profit from storm demand, while shifting all the physical risk onto workers trapped by pay incentives.