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.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS