In May, China held military exercises around Taiwan that simulated the opening maneuvers of a full-scale invasion. China has launched ballistic missiles over the island, and incursions by Chinese fighter jets into Taiwanese airspace are a daily occurrence. But while Beijing’s military provocations grab global headlines, its relentless campaign of diplomatic pressure and legal warfare—lawfare for short—to damage and delegitimize Taiwan has drawn much less attention. Yet this campaign is just as much an existential threat to Taiwan as any military attack.

China’s military actions are a form of shock and awe. They are designed to unleash fear among the Taiwanese population and bully the island’s international supporters into inaction. China’s lawfare is a silent killer, attempting to slowly strangle Taiwan’s ability to function as an autonomous, self-governing entity. If the world’s democracies do not act to relieve the pressure on Taipei, it will soon be too late.

In May, China held military exercises around Taiwan that simulated the opening maneuvers of a full-scale invasion. China has launched ballistic missiles over the island, and incursions by Chinese fighter jets into Taiwanese airspace are a daily occurrence. But while Beijing’s military provocations grab global headlines, its relentless campaign of diplomatic pressure and legal warfare—lawfare for short—to damage and delegitimize Taiwan has drawn much less attention. Yet this campaign is just as much an existential threat to Taiwan as any military attack.

China’s military actions are a form of shock and awe. They are designed to unleash fear among the Taiwanese population and bully the island’s international supporters into inaction. China’s lawfare is a silent killer, attempting to slowly strangle Taiwan’s ability to function as an autonomous, self-governing entity. If the world’s democracies do not act to relieve the pressure on Taipei, it will soon be too late.

At the United Nations, where global leaders recently met for the annual General Assembly, Taiwan was absent. A conflict in the Taiwan Strait could set off a regional or even superpower war that would create an estimated $10 trillion hole in the global economy, yet the word “Taiwan” remains taboo at the world’s most important intergovernmental organization.

In 1971, the U.N. General Assembly passed Resolution 2758, which gave the People’s Republic of China the seat........

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