I’ve been based in Taiwan for the last ~4-5 years and would love to see a Devcon in Taipei! It is a great location for all the reasons mentioned in OP. It is also full of friendly, intelligent and curious people. Taiwan is beautiful and very convenient in ways that are hard to understand without going there (just look at the 24/7 711 stores that are everywhere, with all kinds of services).
The fact that it is a fairly new democracy means there are a lot of opportunities and a stronger sense of civic engagement in Taiwan, something that matches very well with the Ethereum ethos around public goods. This can be seen in the g0v motto “Don’t ask why nobody did this, admit you are the nobody first.”". Research and engineering also play a very large role in Taiwan, as exemplified by TSMC and the disproportionate role it plays in global supply chains. But it isn’t just large corporations, entrepreneurship and small companies play a big role in the private sector too, unlike in many other East Asian countries.
A personal anecdote to show how dynamic Taiwan is when it comes to things like governance. I once tweeted about a broken SSL certificate on a government website to the digital minister of Taiwan, Audrey Tang. She responded within 30m with a solution and a link to Github gist. Please tell me about any other country where this would happen, because I’d like to visit!
Other nice things about Taipei (mentioned in OP too): Where else in the world can you find cafes open at 3am?
Or what about hiking 20m from the city center?
For people concerned about regional security, IMO this is largely overblown, for reasons mentioned in OP and more. Simplifying, there are three main narratives: Mainland China, The West and Taiwan. While humble Taiwanese won’t say it, it seems clear to me that the Taiwan one is by far the most nuanced and complete one. These are people who are fluent in and have access to both Chinese and English media/culture, and have been living with this situation for several decades. They are also the people with the most skin in the game. For people who are worried about this, ask your local friendly Taiwanese what they think about it. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find out that “recent” events aren’t as big of a deal as CNN et al make it out to be.
The last few years, with COVID and geopolitical changes, many countries in the world have started to find Taiwan on a map and pay attention to it. Now would be a great time to go to it and experience it in person, you won’t regret it!