While much of the world – at least the tabloid-obsessed part of it – was distracted by the historic (if inept) indictment of former President Donald Trump, a far more important historical event was taking place in California.

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, along with a bipartisan contingent of Congress members. This was the first time a U.S. government official of that rank (third in line to the presidency) met with a Taiwanese head of state on American soil. It comes less than a year after the previous House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, visited the island nation, spurring Beijing to launch a People’s Revolutionary temper tantrum in response.

Perhaps somewhat lower-profile, a day prior to the historic visit the local Taiwanese consulate, diplomatically named the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Denver, hosted a legislative reception attended by several state lawmakers, recognizing the 40th anniversary of Taiwan’s sister-state relationship with Colorado. That same day a bipartisan tribute, authored by state Reps. David Ortiz (D-Centennial) and Anthony Hartsook (R-Parker) was entered into the record, and later presented to TECO Director General Bill Huang, recognizing both the occasion and Colorado’s long-standing friendship with Taiwan.

The People’s Republic of China went to great lengths to keep the Tsai-McCarthy meeting from happening, pulling every puerile bit of diplomatic and PR chicanery they could. I don’t think they really did anything to dissuade the TECO legislative reception, but the Chinese Communist Party has certainly done plenty of other things to interfere with Taiwan’s movements and relations around the globe. Over the years Beijing has successfully blocked Taipei from inclusion in just about every international organization that matters, including the United Nations, World Health Organization, and International Civil Aviation Organization, to name a few, not to mention several regional and bilateral trade agreements that the PRC regime has bullied other countries into excluding Taiwan from. Now, one can certainly argue as to the usefulness of the U.N., but what cannot be argued is as an international body it ought to include Taiwan.

But such is the bullying power of Beijing, and a reason why support for Taiwan and its continued sovereignty, at all levels, is critical.

So what should that support look like? Well at the state level, besides recognition of Taiwan as a nation, that means the pursuit and strengthening of trade. Taiwan is already Colorado’s 10th-largest export destination (at $268 million) and fourth-largest import country ($980 million). Much of that agricultural, but outstanding opportunities exist in other fields, notably aerospace.

A bill is working its way through the legislature, HB23-1260 sponsored by Reps. Matt Soper (R-Delta) and Alex Valdez (D-Denver), that seeks to domesticate parts of the semiconductor and microchip supply pipeline by leveraging federal funding from the Chips Act. The bill would provide a state incentive sufficient to qualify for a much larger federal matching, to the tune of a $5.5 billion draw -down of Chips funding to Colorado. Taiwan is the world’s primary manufacturer of high-end semiconductors and microchips, and this bill could, among other things, draw out more mutually beneficial bilateral trade and technological cooperation between Taiwan and Colorado.

Now, I was born with a free-trade spoon in my mouth, and remain a committed disciple of Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage which kindles a degree of skepticism over the Chips Act, particularly the social-engineering strings attached to it. But whatever one thinks of the details of the act, the fact is inescapable that if, for whatever reason, our ability to import semiconductors is interrupted, we will need to compensate. Pretty much everything in our economy depends on the things – including, incidentally, our ability to defend Taiwan.

At the national level, America’s focus needs to be multi-faceted; strengthening diplomatic relations, forging regional and bilateral trade agreements, supporting Taiwan’s inclusion in international organizations (even hopelessly incompetent ones like the U. N.) and, of course, military support – including hardware, training and commitments to the preservation of Taiwan’s territorial integrity.

The PRC’s strategy against Taiwan is one of isolation on all these fronts. As friends of liberty everywhere, as John Adams’ characterized America’s external relations, it falls on the United States to counter this strategy with one of embracement and inclusion. The notion that political enmity ends at the oceanfront may be naïve, but this is a rare bipartisan endeavor; necessary for the defense of our own economic and national security, yes, but also because standing up for a fellow self-governing nation is a matter of national self-respect.

Kelly Sloan is a political and public affairs consultant and a recovering journalist based in Denver.