On Oct. 11, former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Stanton delivered a talk in Taipei that was open to the public, titled “The Strategic Significance of Taiwan.” In addition to talking about well-known themes such as Taiwan’s economic development and democratic transformation from a geostrategic perspective, Stanton also examined the special strategic position the nation occupies in the first island chain to provide a reinterpretation of Taiwan’s strategic importance to the US as an unsinkable aircraft carrier and as a supply station for submarines.