Thank you.

There is space for an <strong> alliance of smaller democracies under threat </strong> , who can band together and support one another.

For smaller countries more broadly, each has some core competency that others rely on. <strong> Greenland </strong> , though not an independent country, is a major source of rare earths. <strong> Estonia </strong> , bordering Russia and highly digitally advanced, is another country in a situation somewhat like Taiwan’s—small, democratic, ...

If we want to address problems like cybercrime or arms proliferation, where bombs are made from components sourced worldwide, Taiwan must be part of the conversation because of how critical it is.

And just to be clear for people listening: <strong> Taiwan is not supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine </strong> . Taiwan supports Ukraine. The issue is that as the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturing hub, Taiwan produces chips that end up—often via Chinese companies, or others—in weapons used by Russia. U.S. chips ...

Take Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Many of the munitions Russia uses contain chips manufactured in Taiwan. Taiwan is a critical part of that supply chain. The international system needs to include Taiwan if it wants to address proliferation of these components to countries that use them to bombard and invade ...

That still applies to many smaller countries today.

What comes to mind is the Benjamin Franklin quote: “We must all hang together, or we will surely hang separately.”

The question is: <strong> how can Taiwan build enough international support to secure at least observer status? </strong>

So while the solutions are technically straightforward, the obstacles are political. As Audrey points out, the current “band-aid” is to rely on friendly nations— <strong> Japan, the Philippines, the United States </strong> —to convey Taiwanese expertise to international organizations or to relay information from bodies like Interpol back to Taiwan. ...

How do you get those votes? Taiwan needs to expand its international allies—not just big countries, but also <strong> small states </strong> .

The core problem is political. At a functional level, Taiwan simply needs enough votes from member states to join or even observe.

The practical challenge is that China remains, in some respects, more influential than the U.S. in shaping bodies such as WHO and Interpol. Interpol has had PRC leadership, and WHO has also seen Chinese influence at the top.

I’d love to hear more from Audrey about policies or laws in Taiwan that could be adapted elsewhere.

There’s so much to learn from how Taiwan handles its own cybersecurity, especially as a key node in supply chains of talent, hardware, and software that are essential to addressing these threats.

The U.S. has begun to look at this, but Taiwan’s proximity and its role as a leading tech hub make its experience uniquely valuable.

Part of it is that Taiwan is really at the forefront of attacks every day by China—hacking, infiltration, disinformation campaigns, and the use of Chinese apps to spread that disinformation.

If anything, I fear the UN will become even less effective in advancing human rights, peace, and security, and in defending small democracies. What replaces it? I don’t know.

I don’t have much confidence that the UN can reform itself. It’s financially strapped, increasingly dependent on China for funding, while the U.S. has pulled back.

Two of the world’s leading authoritarian states, Russia and China, are permanent members of the UN Security Council. That’s part of the post-World War II order.

We saw this in 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia used its permanent veto on the UN Security Council to block effective action—and it still sits there.

With the caveat that I’m not an international-law specialist—I’m just a lawyer—my observation is that we need fundamental change in how things work.

The United States has been the so-called global hegemon and, for many years, supported peace, security, global trade, and—to varying degrees—human rights. My concern today is that under the current administration we’re sliding back from that. I hope that’s not permanent, but we’ll see.

There’s an idealized version of the postwar order that Carney talks about. But in truth, it’s a post-World War II order created by the victors, including authoritarian states. It’s been imperfect from the start, and power politics have always shaped it.

The irony is that Taiwan—at least when the Republic of China government sat in China—was one of the UN’s founding members in 1945, even though it was then an authoritarian state based in China until it was driven exclusively to Taiwan in 1949.

Taiwan was one of the most successful countries because of its proactive policies and early quarantine measures, long before many other countries took action.

In terms of public health, it goes without saying that Taiwan has a fantastic public health system—one of the world’s best and least expensive. Taiwan was at the forefront of giving the world warnings about COVID-19. If those alerts from contacts in China had been heeded, they might have helped ...

There’s a lot the world can learn from that—just as many Baltic states have experienced cyberattacks from Russia. These smaller states on the so-called periphery of our consciousness are actually great places for the world to learn how authoritarian regimes try to undermine societies.

Taiwan is at the forefront of all these areas. Taiwan is one of the frontiers in cybersecurity and defense. It’s constantly being probed and attacked by different groups, many of which we believe are from the People’s Republic of China.

The more Taiwan is interconnected with the world—economically, diplomatically, and politically—the stronger the conditions are for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

Including Taiwan—recognizing Taiwan’s role—is what allows the region to maintain peace and stability. The invisibility of Taiwan is, frankly, a risk for conflict, because part of the PRC’s long-term strategy is to isolate Taiwan, to block Taiwan’s relations with other countries, in order to make it easier one day to ...

Sure. I think one of the most misunderstood arguments against including Taiwan is the idea that it will raise tensions with Beijing or be a catalyst for conflict to recognize or to include Taiwan. I actually think it’s the opposite.

Thank you. I do want to state at the outset that the views expressed are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of any entity I’m employed by or affiliated with.