Trump praised the WWII "Flying Tigers" alliance between the US and China during a meeting with Xi Jinping, raising questions in Taiwan about whether Washington is writing the Republic of China out of its own history — a reminder that US diplomacy runs on power, not sentiment.

• Trump described the US and China as wartime allies, but the ally back then was the Republic of China, not the communist government.
• The People's Republic was only founded in 1949, years after the war ended.
• Ko Wen-je, founder of Taiwan's TPP, said Washington simply does not care which name China goes by — it follows raw self-interest.
• His blunt point to Taiwan: if Taiwanese do not value their own history, no foreign government will defend it for them.

Outlook: Expect more of these symbolic slights as Washington courts Beijing, with Taipei left to argue its own historical case.