TAIWAN PERSPECTIVE

Taipei watches the Hormuz blockade with the acuity of an island that intimately understands what it means to depend on a strait. The Taipei Times reported Trump's order with remarkable precision: Iran's 'unyielding' refusal to give up nuclear ambitions as the trigger. For Taiwan, the parallel is impossible to ignore — if the US can blockade Hormuz to coerce Iran, can China blockade the Taiwan Strait to coerce Taipei? Every successful or attempted naval blockade redefines the international norm on naval force during quasi-war — and Taiwan is the country with the most to lose if that norm loosens.