Taiwan's View of Sino-U.S. Ties

LOS ANGELES — Unless they somehow manage to entwine us in World War III with China, our friends in Taiwan truly are our friends.

Over and over again, Beijing has let the world know that any dramatic move by the offshore island toward permanent and formal independence would trigger war. To back this threat up, the good people of the People's Liberation Army have tilted more than a thousand mainland missiles in Taiwan's direction.