The war forced the world to face up to the power of "geography". It is crucial for foreign media to name "Taiwan"

Foreign media pointed out that the war forced the world to face up to the power of geography.

When the whole world thought that technology had made "distance" meaningless, a war in the Middle East allowed the world to see the power of geography again. The New York Times pointed out that once key waterways from the Strait of Hormuz, Suez Canal to Panama Canal are blocked, energy, shipping and supply chains will immediately be shaken. Taiwan, which is located at the strategic intersection of China, Japan and Southeast Asia, is also at the core of this global geopolitical competition.

The New York Times reported that the conflict in the Middle East triggered by the United States and Israel's attack on Iran seven months ago has had a knock-on impact on the global economy. Rising energy prices are also driving up interest rates, disrupting factory production around the world, threatening crop harvests and sparking protests from Syria to Guatemala.

This also means that even if a country's military, technological or economic strength is far less than that of the United States, it may still have a huge impact on the global economy as long as it controls important global transportation nodes.

Iran is the most obvious example. The Strait of Hormuz is the only sea channel to the Persian Gulf and one of the world's most important energy chokepoints. Once Iran interferes with shipping, global energy supplies may be affected. On the other hand, the Yemeni Houthi armed forces supported by Iran control the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a narrow waterway located at the southern end of the Red Sea and an important transportation route connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

In fact, geography has always been an important force in international politics. However, after the rapid development of globalization in the 1990s, technology and global trade made people gradually underestimate its importance. At the same time, the transnational networks that made globalization successful in the past have become new vulnerabilities. Once one of the important nodes is disrupted, the impact may quickly spread around the world.

Ukraine and Taiwan are the most representative examples. Hal Brands, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, believes that the global underestimation of the importance of geography in the past 30 years is actually based on two wrong assumptions. First, the competition among powerful powers for influence is outdated; second, technological innovation has basically eliminated the restrictions brought by geography.

The importance of Ukraine proves otherwise. Ukraine's key location in Eurasia, an important hub between European and Asian powers and its Black Sea ports and fertile land, has made it the focus of geopolitical competition for decades.

Taiwan also occupies a key position, located between Japan and Indonesia, and is an important node in the island chain off China's coast. Whether it is the military, shipping or the global semiconductor supply chain, Taiwan's importance is closely related to its geographical location.

More importantly, technology and geography have never been independent forces. Take the Strait of Hormuz as an example. It was the rapid development of oil exploration and transportation infrastructure in the Middle East after World War II that made this strait, which was originally an important waterway, gradually become a key choke point for global energy security.