Taiwan Story Brown Kerry (2025)

When the bloody Chinese Civil War ended in 1949, two Chinas were born: Mao’s Communists took mainland China, while Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists fled to Taiwan. Since then, China and Taiwan have developed into separate political and cultural entities. Taiwan is now a flourishing democracy and an economic success story, with one of its companies producing more than 90 per cent of the semiconductors that power the world’s economy. It is a free and vibrant society, and for the United States and the West, the island is a bastion of freedom against China’s assertive presence in the region. Yet China, increasingly bellicose under Xi Jinping, insists that Taiwan is part of its territory and must be returned to it. A blockade or invasion would set off a chain reaction, bringing China into conflict with the United States and escalating a regional war into a global one. Taiwan is therefore a geopolitical powder keg. This essential book explains how and why the world has arrived at this dangerous moment. Drawing on unparalleled access to Taiwan’s political leaders and a deep understanding of the island’s history and culture, Professor Kerry Brown offers a new reading of Taiwan, its twenty-three million people and the way they navigate this frightening geopolitical standoff. Accessible, expert and urgent, it explores Taiwan’s unique story beneath the headlines and helps readers understand why the crisis cannot be easily solved.