Taiwan

Taiwan's governance exists in a state of productive ambiguity: the Republic of China constitution claims sovereignty over all of China, the People's Republic claims sovereignty over Taiwan, and functional independence is maintained through a combination of American security guarantees, economic interdependence, and deliberate avoidance of formal declarations. TSMC's dominance of advanced semiconductor manufacturing — producing over 90% of the world's most sophisticated chips — has created what strategists call a 'silicon shield': any military conflict that damaged TSMC's fabrication facilities would crash the global electronics supply chain, giving every major economy an interest in Taiwan's stability. The political system has successfully democratised since martial law ended in 1987, alternating power between the DPP (independence-leaning) and KMT (engagement-leaning) without institutional crisis. Taiwan's existential governance challenge is that its most important policy question (formal independence vs. reunification vs. status quo) cannot be safely answered, making strategic ambiguity not a temporary measure but a permanent operating condition.