Former Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen warned at Stanford DEFCON 2026 that military hardware alone cannot protect democracies under sustained pressure. Speaking on October 7, she cited daily cyberattacks, cognitive warfare, and economic coercion against Taiwan, plus regular Chinese military and coast-guard activity meant to raise costs without open conflict. The US holds about 75% of global AI computing power, she noted, but Taiwanese firms make nearly all the advanced chips in those systems and about 90% of the AI servers behind them. “Defense & deterrence are properties of an entire nation,” she said. Advanced weapons cannot compensate if institutions weaken or public trust collapses. Treating Taiwan only as a security risk misses the point: deeper cooperation strengthens Indo-Pacific stability and the resilience of democracies.