Chen Ru-fen’s life has changed beyond recognition. The angel investor has moved from air-conditioned meeting rooms to Taiwan’s sweltering streets. Instead of helping start-ups she is now campaigning to rescue her country from what she believes is a surreptitious Chinese annexation push. She and thousands of other activists suffered a crushing defeat in their first battle. An unprecedented mass recall vote last month failed to unseat a single lawmaker from the Kuomintang (KMT), the largest party in Taiwan’s parliament, whom activists like Chen accuse of undermining democracy so that China can seize the island. “I thought I’d go back to my usual life after the vote,” says Chen. “But now we have to keep going. If we don’t stop them, we will lose our sovereignty and our freedom forever.” Her anxiety reflects growing fears that the Chinese Communist party (CCP) could be inching closer to taking the island it has long claimed is part of China. Xi Jinping, China’s president, has repeatedly declared that the Taiwan issue “cannot be passed on from generation to generation.” Concerns in the west have centred on the risk of a Chinese invasion, with US military commanders warning that the manoeuvres the Chinese People’s Liberation Army is conducting around Taiwan are no longer exercises but “rehearsals” for an attack.

Full in-depth : While the west focuses on the military threat, activists in Taiwan accuse its own politicians of facilitating Beijing’s subversion efforts.