Comparing the situations in Taiwan and Ukraine is inappropriate, Taiwanese academics told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting that the conditions the two nations are facing, including their locations as well as their geopolitical and international trade position, are entirely different.
Ukraine has a land border with Russia and is vulnerable to a large-scale land invasion, while Taiwan is separated from China by the Taiwan Strait, Institute for National Defense and Security Research senior analyst Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) told the event hosted by the Association of Chinese Elite Leadership.
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, which has proven to be critical for global supply chains, and shipping routes to Japan through Taiwanese waters ensure that other countries’ national interests overlap with Taiwan’s, Su said.
Photo: CNA
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian economy is focused on agriculture and traditional industry, he said.
Unlike Taiwan, Ukraine does not occupy a “special place” in US politics, and its strategic value is far less pronounced, National Taiwan Normal University professor Fan Shih-ping (范世平) said.
As Taiwan is part of the first island chain, loosing it to China would endanger Guam, Hawaii and even the US west coast, Fan said.
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is crucial to the world, so a Chinese invasion would have a far greater effect on global markets, he added.
The Taiwan issue is well-known in the international community, Fan said, citing as examples British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison mentioning Taiwan when speaking of the Ukraine conflict.
Ukraine became overly reliant on US and NATO promises, as its defense industry fell into disrepair after the 2014 Minsk agreement, he said.
Russia’s goal is regime change in Ukraine, while China’s ambition would be incorporating Taiwan, Cross-Strait Policy Association researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said.
Drawing conclusions from the Ukraine conflict is a logical fallacy, Wu said, denying media reports saying that today’s events in Ukraine would be replicated in Taiwan one day.
Private entities should leave it to the government to make such far-reaching statements, he added.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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