The shared interests of people across the entire region and on both sides of the Taiwan Straits lie in peaceful economic development, says Warwick Powell, adjunct professor at the Queensland University of Technology and the chairman of Smart Trade Networks.

Unfortunately, he highlights that not everyone shares these interests, specifically pointing to "the neocons in Washington, for whom Taiwan has been part and parcel of the geostrategic and military security ambitions for the Pacific as a whole."