I lived in Tainan, Taiwan from 1969 to 1971 while in High School when my Dad was stationed there in the Navy. I think of the people of Taiwan in much of the same way I think of the people of Israel. They are a proud and incredibly hard working people who are proving today they are an invaluable friend to this country and should never be taken for granted.
Thank you for sharing your Taiwan experience. We need to appreciate our friends more.
In 1973 the U.S. Navy had the USS Prairie AD 15 docked in Taiwan for about 3 months. What stuck out most for me was that at midnight the major streets all had sand bag machine gun positions manned to defend against a possible mainland China invasion or mainland China sympathizers from attempting to over throw the government.