THE importance of Taiwan as a market for Scotch whisky is perhaps, in an Asian context, overshadowed at times these days by the understandable fascination with the prospects for distillers in the mind-bogglingly populous mainland China.

However, there is no danger that this focus on mainland China, where the impact of the Communist government's anti-extravagance measures is watched with great interest, will cause Scotch whisky industry insiders to overlook the Taiwanese market.

Just why the industry is so attracted to Taiwan is apparent pretty soon after boarding a China Airlines' flight from Amsterdam to Taipei. All it takes for the penny to drop is a quick browse of the glossy Sky Boutique in-flight shopping magazine of the Taiwan-based China Airlines.

The November/ December 2014 issue contains a "selected liquor" section which runs from pages 154 to 160. All of this section, with the exception of one Cognac and the Taiwanese single malt whisky Kavalan, is devoted to Scotch whisky.

And not just any old Scotch whisky.

On page 155, we have Royal Salute "Stone of Destiny", a 38-year-old blended Scotch whisky produced by Pernod Ricard's Chivas Brothers, coming in at $393 or about £250 per half-litre bottle. If you prefer to pay for that in the local currency, it would be 11,990 New Taiwan dollars or, if it is being bought in Chinese money, 2,417 renminbi.

On the same page, we have Ballantine's 30-year-old blended Scotch whisky, from the same distiller, retailing at a cool $347, which is about £220 or 10,590 New Taiwan dollars, although you do get 70 centilitres.

The section had opened impressively enough on page 154, with The Balvenie 16-year-old Triple Cask single malt, distilled by William Grant & Sons, coming in at $115 for a 70-centilitre bottle.

On the same page, we have the same size of bottle of Highland Park single-malt Scotch whisky, produced by Edrington, selling at $192. This Highland Park carries the name of Sigurd who, we are told in the product description, was "one of the most feared Viking earls from the Orkneyinga Saga".

Scotch also dominates the earlier, drinks pre-order section of Sky Boutique and here we find the real prize. On page 18, there is a 70-centilitre bottle of The Macallan Oscuro single malt, distilled by Edrington and produced in sherry-seasoned casks, at $709 or about £450. That's 21,620 New Taiwan dollars.

After all that, a 70-centilitre bottle of The Macallan Select Oak single malt might seem a bit like small change at $59 on page 156. But it is not. This is still about £37.

The fact that this particular expression of this prestigious worldwide brand is the cheapest among the whiskies on offer in the selected liquor section is just another demonstration of the very high-value nature of the Taiwanese market for distillers. It underlines the increasingly discerning Taiwanese consumer's desire to purchase expensive as well as exclusive or limited-release Scotch.

Edrington has done a great deal to develop the Taiwanese market. It has just launched The Famous Grouse Glenturret edition single malt Scotch whisky, exclusively for Taiwan. This 27-year-old product, from seven individual casks, has a recommended retail asking price of about £290-a-bottle.

This new release does not feature in the latest edition of Sky Boutique, but certainly chimes with what is on offer in the in-flight magazine.

For the whiskies featuring in Sky Boutique, you generally get a fair bit of a story behind each one, sometimes involving great detail about the production process and/or the character of the whisky, and on occasion stretching to the stuff of legend as we have seen with Sigurd. "Luxury", "super-premium" and "1824 collection" are among the descriptions which spring out of the pages. The packaging is often elaborate.

When it comes to Royal Salute, there is significant emphasis placed on the fact there is a "very limited quantity released every year".

Taiwan has over the decades always been in the shadow of China in a geopolitical sense.

However, it is proving a particularly happy hunting ground for Scotch whisky distillers at the moment.

In the first half of 2014, the value of Scotch whisky exports to Taiwan came in at £91 million, up by 39 per cent on the opening six months of last year.

The dampening impact of the anti-extravagance measures in China on demand for a range of luxury goods has come at a time when Scotch whisky producers have been unveiling heavy investment to ramp up their long-term production capacity. Diageo recently put some of its plans to increase production on hold, although the Scotch whisky industry remains confident about the long-term outlook for global demand.

In that regard, the recent strength of the Taiwanese market is likely to have been a real comfort for Scotch producers.

Scots are sometimes accused of under-selling themselves, or inventing or producing something and failing to market it to maximum effect.

A browse of Sky Boutique signals that this is certainly not the case when it comes to the national drink.

This impression is reinforced by a look at the stock of the Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor Corporation outlet at Taoyuan International Airport on the outskirts of Taipei or at the Johnnie Walker and Glenfiddich signs which can be seen on the way round to passport control.

The sheer dominance of Scotch whisky among the drinks in China Airlines' in-flight shopping catalogue and the prices being commanded for malts and blends alike can surely be held up as a triumph of marketing, without in any way taking away from the quality of what is being sold.