EMBASSY
115 AND LOOKING GOOD
A toast, then, to 115 years. To the people who made them count. And to everything that comes next.
The Taiwanese in Manila celebrated their country’s 115th National Day last Thursday.
A fairly ordinary diplomatic reception, except for the extraordinary business of celebrating a country that much of the diplomatic world won’t formally recognize.
Twenty-three million people. A democracy. An economy that grew more than 14 percent in the first half of 2026. More than $600 billion in foreign reserves.
And computer chips.
God, the computer chips.
More than 90 percent of the world’s most advanced ones come from Taiwan. The Americans need them. The Europeans. Even the one very large neighbor that refuses to wish it well.
The world’s biggest economies, very dependent on some very small things.
Wallace Minn-Gan Chow (center, lead photo), Taiwan’s man in the Philippines, could have talked about Taiwan’s achievements all night. There were also a few things to get off his chest.
China’s maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait and West Philippine Sea. Disinformation. Economic coercion.
He had better news for his Filipino guests.
More than 191,000 Filipinos work in Taiwan. Nearly 630,000 visited last year. More than 5,500 are studying there.
Two-way trade with the Philippines totaled about $7.2 billion last year. In just eight months this year, it had already topped $7 billion.
Taiwan wants to build more business here. Semiconductors, AI, drones. Manufacturing.
Chow called the Philippines Taiwan’s gateway to Asean.
The country is looking for more doors to open. It knows a thing or two about finding them closed.
The world has a habit of measuring countries by the territory they control, the weapons they own, the governments willing to shake their hands.
The Taiwanese have spent generations making a different case. By doing the stubborn, expensive work of building a country.
Perhaps that’s the nice thing about birthdays. For one evening, you don’t have to explain yourself or argue about what you are. You get to celebrate what you’ve made.
Taiwan has come a very long way.
Thursday night was a chance to look back and see just how far.