Escalating tensions between the U.S. and China over trade, the South China Sea and recent arms sales are pushing Taiwan back into the American foreign policy spotlight, attracting Beijing's ire.
After a precedent-shattering phone call with Trump when he was president-elect, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has found an increasingly receptive audience in the U.S. during the recent disputes. She's been aided in that by the presence of long-standing allies in the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon, including National Security Adviser John Bolton.
"The Republic of China has more high-level friends in this administration than it's had for many, many years," said Nicholas Eberstadt, who focuses on Asian security issues at the American Enterprise Institute, referring to Taiwan by its official name. "It's also apparent that the administration has an approach that is going to contest China on many different fronts."