Taiwan Risks Pitching to Yesterday's America
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- Taiwan has spent the past decade branding itself as a democratic partner of the US, securing bipartisan support in Washington as US-China competition intensified.
- The Reagan Institute's 2026 Summer Survey found younger Americans trail the oldest cohort by 20 to 30 points on concern about China across national security, economic competition, technological rivalry, and Beijing's international influence — concluding the bipartisan China consensus is "aging."
- Pew Research surveys over the past several years have consistently found younger Americans hold more positive views of China than older adults, reinforcing the generational divergence trend.
- Donald Trump, in a 2024 Bloomberg Businessweek interview, argued Taiwan had "taken about 100 percent" of the US semiconductor industry and suggested Taiwan should pay for US protection — framing the relationship through economic and burden-sharing terms rather than shared values.
- The article cites Singapore as a model, with former PM Lee Hsien Loong warning that forcing countries to choose between Washington and Beijing would undermine regional stability, and PM Lawrence Wong emphasizing that small states must strengthen their relevance and competitiveness rather than rely on ideological affinity.
- Taiwan's enduring strategic value — its position in the First Island Chain, role in regional deterrence, and centrality to advanced semiconductor manufacturing — has always underpinned US support as much as democratic solidarity, according to the analysis.
Why it matters: If the Reagan Institute's 20-30 point generational gap in China concern holds, Taiwan's decade-long strategy of branding itself as a fellow democracy may gradually lose resonance with future American leaders, leaving its semiconductor manufacturing role and First Island Chain geography as the only durable — and currently underleveraged — foundations for sustaining US backing.
