A commemoration in Taipei earlier this year for a Taiwanese human rights activist, Lee Ming-cheh, who was detained after travelling to China

After the bloody crackdown that followed the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, Wu’er Kaixi, then a student who was among the leaders of the uprising, fled.

Banned from the Chinese mainland since his departure, Mr Wu’er is today one of a number of Chinese dissidents who have made Taiwan their home.

The island, after years of being subject to harsh authoritarian rule, has become a beacon of liberal democracy in the region. But it is also continuing to struggle against the influence of Beijing, which views Taiwan as a breakaway province.

President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, with President Jovenel Moise of Haiti, is under pressure to renounce independence TYRONE SIU/REUTERS

Arriving in Taiwan from China, the difference in cultural attitudes is quickly noticeable. Political news and criticism of the government is easy to access on the internet, and, unlike in China, it is