Inspired by Taiwan: Why Supporting Taiwan Matters for Global Democracy

The future of global democracy may hinge on a small island of 23 million people.

Taiwan is more than the world’s technology hub, producing over 90 percent of the globe’s most advanced semiconductors. It also hosts a high-performance democracy, a vibrant civil society, and a population comfortable with religious, gender, and sexual diversity. Taiwan’s education and healthcare systems command worldwide respect, and its political resilience inspires admiration across the democratic world.

Yet China claims Taiwan as its own and applies relentless pressure through economic, diplomatic, and military means, stopping just short of open war. Against this backdrop, Taiwan’s success as a democracy strengthens its resolve to resist coercion and inspires others to defend freedom.

In Inspired by Taiwan, George S. Takach shows why Taiwan matters―to its own people and to the world―and why democracies everywhere advance their national interests when they support it. This is a call to recognize Taiwan not just as a strategic outpost but as a beacon for the global democracy project.

George S. Takach holds a BA in history, political science, and philosophy from the University of Toronto; an MA from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa; and a JD from the University of Toronto. For thirty-five years he was a tech lawyer and partner at McCarthy Tétrault, Canada’s premier law firm. During his legal career he was also an adjunct professor in computer law and e-commerce at Osgoode Hall Law School for twenty-two years, and he wrote three books on technology law topics. He now writes and presents on technology and geopolitics for a general audience. His book Cold War 2.0: Artificial Intelligence in the New Battle Between China, Russia, and America was published in English in 2025 (Pegasus Books, New York) and in Chinese in 2025 (Commonwealth Publishing, Taipei). George and his wife, Barbara, live in Toronto.