Stressing the geostrategic importance of Taiwan to the region, Columbia University political science professor Andrew Nathan, an expert on Chinese politics, said yesterday in Taipei that he was “rather pessimistic” about China’s growing sway over Taiwan through closer cross-strait economic integration.

As economic ties between Taiwan and China grow, it makes Taiwan “more vulnerable to Chinese influence,” Nathan said in Mandarin at the launch of the Chinese-language edition of his book China’s Search for Security.