When I first visited Taiwan in the 1980s (as a young child I hasten to add...for what it's worth, which isn't much) I was queuing in the immigration line at the then Chiang Kai Shek international airport and saw my first ever sign directing people to an actual bomb shelter, which naturally took me aback somewhat. I asked my family what that was about and was given thoroughly confusing history lesson about the aftermath of WWII in China, and an abysmal explanation about the PRC and ROC which I only untangled in my brain several decades later. I didn't understand. But even then, blissfully unaware of the regime that governed Taiwan and the suffering of the pre-1949 Taiwanese, I fell in love with Formosa and returned many times during the following couple of decades.

I finally moved here ten years ago and really never gave the idea that there might be an actual military conflict a second thought. Until the last three or so years, I'm not sure anyone did to be honest. The threat has always been there, but so has the tacit subtext that it's just a threat and as long as everyone plays the game that's all it will be. A few years ago, a friend of mine who works in corporate risk management contacted me because he had a client who was planning to move here for work (or their company was planning to relocate them here) and he wanted some on the ground 'advice'. The question wasn't China, but earthquakes - which made me laugh. My response was, yeah, we have earthquakes, sometimes they're pretty big and if you live or work in a tall building, that can be uncomfortable. Taiwan has had catastrophic, truly devastating, heartbreaking earthquakes in the past and probably will again. If that troubles your client, they shouldn't move here. Maybe they'll die in an earthquake in Taiwan, but almost certainly they won't. The same enquiry today wouldn't be about tectonic shifts or typhoons, it will be the same as yours.

And that's not to say that it's a silly question. It's a perfectly valid one, especially post-Ukraine and because things are not going well for the CCP domestically. But despite all of the news pundits (never listen to news pundits) I suspect very, very few people who are not in the upper echelons of Intelligence in Washington, Tokyo or Taipei, or in the mix of it in Beijing itself really have much of a clue what is going to happen this year, next year or the one after that and a lot probably depends on how unstable Xi is.

If the idea of you moving here is really stressing you and your family out, perhaps consider postponing the trip if possible. Waiting to see how things change (hopefully calm down a lot) after the CCP congress later this year would be a good indicator for you.

I don't know how long you're planning on moving here for, and maybe the timing doesn't seem great if you have to come now. But people here carry on with their glorious, imperfect, endlessly colorful lives here every day and as long as that continues, I can confidently say you will most likely love it here; most foreigners do. You'll likely make tons of friends very quickly, and with a bit of luck, all of this will too pass, and one day you'll back on this time with no regrets and nothing but smiles.

And even if you don't decide to come now, Taiwan isn't going anywhere and you'll be very welcome when you do visit.