TAIWAN SHOULDN'T COUNT ON U.S. SUPPORT

IT WAS INEVITABLE that U.S. military and economic support for Ukraine's self-defense against Russia would spark comparisons to our relationship with Taiwan.

- BONNIE KRISTIAN

Each country is not exactly a U.S. ally but is unquestionably friendly, relatively democratic, and endangered by one of just two remotely plausible challengers for the title of global superpower.

"China is watching what we do in Ukraine," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (DConn.) said on CNN in August, arguing that expanded U.S. aid to fight Moscow could double as a warning to Beijing: If we back Ukraine to the hilt, perhaps Taiwan will never need the same help.

There is no denying that Beijing is watching. But we-and, more important, Taipei-should be wary of overdrawing this comparison. For all the similarities, there are real differences here, and the war in Ukraine itself remains a live factor in how the U.S. would respond to a Chinese attack on Taiwan. The most prudent assumption is that Taiwan remains its own best defender, whatever U.S. support for Ukraine might suggest.

Perhaps the most significant difference between these two situations is that between China and Russia. While both are formidable nuclear-armed international rivals to the U.S., Russia is a declining power with an ill-equipped and outdated military that has been forced to conscript old men in its war against a smaller, poorer country. It has a defense.