Abstract: Taiwan is one of the great paradoxes of the international order. A place with its own flag, currency, government and military, but which most of the world does not recognise as a sovereign country. An island that China regards as a ‘rebellious province’, but which has managed to survive defiantly for decades. Now with its neighbour China a major power on the world stage and ally United States looking increasingly inward, Taiwan’s position has never been more precarious.