Letter from Taiwan: life in the shadow of ‘The Bully’

The Grand Hotel sits on the outskirts of Taipei, at the edge of Yangmingshan national park. Overlooking the city, the 14-storey building is designed like a Chinese palace. It was built in the 1950s to host dignitaries when Taiwan was under authoritarian rule. Today it operates as a five-star hotel and is open to tours from the public. Photos of foreign leaders and celebrities who have visited are displayed on the walls: Bill Clinton in 1979; Elizabeth Taylor the same year; Nelson Mandela in 1993. If this were any other hotel, you’d think it was simply boasting about its clientele. But there is something far more poignant about this display – it is proof that Taiwan has been recognised informally over the years through the act of important people showing up. As the number of countries that formally recognise Taiwan keeps dwindling – now down to 13 – these framed, often blurry photos take on even more significance.

Another photo on the wall is of Margaret Thatcher, who first visited the island in 1992. She was the last former British prime minister to do so, until Liz Truss showed up this week. Truss, always up for a selfie abroad, will no doubt be looking to secure her own framed photo. Her speech at the Prospect Foundation will probably get her what she wants. Last month, speaking about Taiwan, Emmanuel Macron insisted that France would not get ‘caught up in crises that are not ours’ – a line the Chinese Communist party applauded while France’s state officials tried desperately to bury it. Truss is in Taipei to offer a counter view: that it is ‘completely irresponsible for European nations to wash their hands of Taiwan’. She wants to fast-track the island into the trans-Pacific free trade bloc, of which the UK just became the newest member.