Ghost Nation: The Story of Taiwan and its Struggle for Survival
Chris Horton
Macmillan: 2025
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A few weeks after Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016, he took a congratulatory phone call from Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s then president, breaching US diplomatic protocol. Since 1979, when the United States switched recognition from the Republic of China to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), no US leader had spoken directly to a Taiwanese leader, which would be seen as tacit recognition that Taiwan is a country.

The conceit of Chris Horton’s Ghost Nation: The Story of Taiwan and its Struggle for Survival is that most of the world treats Taiwan like it doesn’t exist. In accepting the call, Trump was acknowledging Tsai’s existence as the legitimate leader of a state and risking an international incident. China decided to downplay the call, with Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, calling it a “petty trick” on the inexperienced politician. Trump didn’t repeat his faux pas when Tsai was reelected in 2020 or when her successor, William Lai Ching-te, won the 2024 election.

Horton closes the initial chapter of Ghost Nation with an indictment of diplomatic contortions that have deprived Taiwan of participation in international gatherings as an equal: “We have ghosted Taiwan, and in doing so, have lost a little of our own humanity—the connection that we should feel with all our fellow inhabitants of this planet. But we have also kept a neighbour and valuable partner outside of our community.”

• Tags: Chris Horton, Issue 41, Jacques van Wersch, Taiwan