Here's why Taiwan is watching the U.S. election closely

TAIPEI, Taiwan — As the U.S. presidential candidates lay out their visions for the country over the next four years, Taiwan is also pondering what impact American policy will have on its future.

Just about 100 miles to the west of Taiwan is China, which claims the small Asian island as its own and has repeatedly threatened to invade it.

Because Taiwan is not officially considered a sovereign nation by most other countries and does not have the ability to conduct normal diplomacy, its current partnership with the U.S. — which dates back to 1979 — has outsize importance for the island.

Here's what Taiwan is looking out for in the U.S. election.

Taiwan is looking for security guarantees

While the U.S. adheres to what it calls “strategic ambiguity” over Taiwan, it is bound by American legislation to help the island’s self-defense. In recent years, Washington has increased large sales of U.S. weapons systems to Taipei.

As rhetoric heats up over whether the U.S. should defend Taiwan in case of a Chinese invasion, there is also growing skepticism in Taiwan over U.S. reliability as a security partner.

A recent survey conducted by the Brookings Institution in Taiwan found only about a quarter of 1,500 adults polled thought the U.S. was a trustworthy ally, though about 55% said they believed the U.S. would come to Taiwan’s aid in the event of a conflict, no matter who is elected U.S. president.

In Taiwan, the sense of confusion and nervousness is palpable, as Beijing ramps up its intimidation.

“What they care about is whether the U.S. has a very explicit commitment to Taiwan's defense, which means [will] the U.S. militarily intervene, instead of just sending signals to Beijing or just sending weapons, arms to Taiwan? People really