As the crisis over Ukraine threatens to explode into a full-blown Russian invasion of the country, Taiwan is closely watching from thousands of kilometers away to see how the U.S. responds and what, if any, lessons can be gleaned from the events so far.
But just what those lessons are is something that is being hotly debated.
On the surface, the similarities between the situations in Ukraine and Taiwan seem obvious. Both are Western-facing democracies that face potential existential threats from powerhouse autocratic neighbors. Both countries’ futures have been framed, at times, as critical tests of the United States’ credibility and its willingness to uphold the global rules-based order.