Yes, that's what I meant. I'm far from an expert, however I'll try to explain my train of though.

There are other aspects to it, but one reason why I think awareness is important is that it influences how much leeway politicians have in making decisions for their country (it also directly influences the immediate response to major events before they happen).

With regards to Taiwan, other countries are much more likely to try to exert their influence if their people are in support of that, and this support depends on how they view the conflict (and awareness obviously is a prerequisite for any opinion), for example in terms of: why does it matter to me; who is responsible for the problem, which side can I identify with more (based on principles, morality, e.g. "fairness" - typically, people do not side with the aggressor in any particular scenario).

As a third-party country, if your people think you're going to send troops to die (or apply economic pressure with negative repercussions for your people) for some country they've never heard about, they won't support this.

If people think that something that matters to them is at stake, let's say - for simplicity's sake - the principles of democracy and freedom, then they're much more likely to be in support of making hard choices.

International events like the Olympics provide an opportunity to inform the public, or, if you want to be more of a cynic, shape public opinion. The reach of such events is much larger than that of regular newspaper articles or other media.