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Taiwanese Jack Yao volunteered to support the Ukrainians’ fight against the Russians. He hopes that the world will support his country in the event of a Chinese attack.
Munich/Taipei – At first he was still afraid of losing a leg or another part of his body in a Russian attack, “and not just dying quickly”. But that fear soon disappeared. Because if you witness what the war in the Ukraine with the country, “then you don’t worry about death anymore,” says Taiwanese Yao Kuan-chun, who prefers to be called “Jack” when speaking to foreigners. Then it’s all about the here and now, about giving other people the help they need. Jack Yao was in Ukraine for almost three months. As a volunteer, he helped distribute food and medicine to civilians and combatants.
“Our brigade has also participated in reconnaissance missions and conducted other special operations,” he says FR.de from IPPEN.MEDIA. He was also at the front and helped bring the wounded to safety. The 28-year-old does not want to tell details – secret. He only reveals this much: he was on duty in the capital Kyiv, in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv and in the city of Dnipro in the east of the country, as well as in the Donbass. Not as a fighter, but as a helper, as he emphasizes.
It is not known how many Taiwanese are fighting in Ukraine or otherwise assisting the troops there. A request from IPPEN.MEDIA to the Ministry of Defense in Kyiv remained unanswered. CNA, Taiwan’s state news agency, put the number at ten in early June. Jack Yao himself says he knows six other Taiwanese men who have served in Ukraine. The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy Three days after the start of the Russian attack, he called for members to join the newly formed International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine. “Anyone who wants to take part in the defense of Ukraine, Europe and the world can come and fight alongside Ukrainians against Russian war criminals,” Zelenskyy said in late February. There are no reliable figures on how many people responded to this call.
About IPPEN.MEDIA
The IPPEN.MEDIA network is one of the largest online publishers in Germany. At the locations in Berlin, Hamburg/Bremen, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Stuttgart and Vienna, journalists from our central editorial office research and publish for more than 50 news offers. These include brands such as Merkur.de, FR.de and BuzzFeed Germany. Our news, interviews, analyzes and comments reach more than 5 million people in Germany every day.
Taiwan: support for Ukraine, fear of China
Between Taipei, the capital of the island nation, and Kyiv are almost 8000 kilometers as the crow flies. Of the Ukraine war is still more than any conflict on the other side of the world for most Taiwanese. For them, Russia’s attack on its neighbor is a bitter foretaste of what their own country could one day face: an attack by the People’s Republic China. Because the government in Beijing regards Taiwan as part of its own national territory and describes the democratically governed country as a “breakaway province”. and threatens violent conquest. And then, Jack Yao believes, “Taiwan could fare even worse than Ukraine does now.” Because the balance of power is different. 1.4 billion people live in China, and just under 23 million in tiny Taiwan. “In addition, our neighboring country is better prepared,” says Jack Yao.
Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, Taiwan has shown solidarity with Ukraine, although Kyiv – like most other governments worldwide – does not maintain diplomatic relations with Taipei. Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen condemned the invasion in the strongest terms, and Taiwan’s foreign ministry said both countries share “the universal core values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and human rights.” Public buildings across the country were illuminated in the colors of Ukraine, and the population collected millions of dollars in donations within a few days. Above all, however, Taiwan participated in the international sanctions against Russia. Moscow reacted promptly and put Taiwan on its “list of unfriendly states and territories”.
Ukraine war as a blueprint: China threatens to attack Taiwan
Jack Yao traveled from Taipei to Poland in mid-March and then on to Ukraine. In early April, he passed the admissions procedure for the Ukrainian army. Not everyone who wants to fight for Ukraine manages to do so. In early March, Taiwanese media reported about a man who was turned away by the relevant authorities in Ukraine because he lacked the necessary combat experience. Jack Yao, on the other hand, has done one year of military service, like most young men in Taiwan, and has also studied medical management.
However, the coffee wholesaler was not really prepared for what awaited him in the Ukraine. He says he has repeatedly had to explain to the people in Ukraine that he is not from China. Beijing gives itself in Ukraine conflict neutral, but does not speak of a “war” and remains with Russia. There are also heads of state and party leaders Xi Jinping the USA and NATO alone to blame for the escalation. “In the beginning, I was mistaken for a Chinese spy,” says Jack Yao. That changed when he explained that he was from Taiwan. Then people would have understood why he wanted to go to Ukraine. “You know we have the same concerns as you.”
The Ukraine war has once again drawn the world’s attention to the Taiwan conflict. At the start of the war, some feared that China might use the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a blueprint for an attack on Taiwan. At the time, however, very few people suspected how bravely and persistently the Ukrainians would defend themselves and how united the West would react to the aggression. It is quite possible that the failure of the Russians to conquer Ukraine quickly has caused Beijing to reflect.
The Ukraine War in Pictures – Destruction, Resistance and Hope
The Ukraine War in Pictures – Destruction, Resistance and Hope
China provokes Taiwan – but will it attack soon?
China’s President Xi last year set the goal that his country should be able to conquer Taiwan militarily by 2027. Then China’s People’s Liberation Army will be 100 years old. The US thinks this is realistic. “In the next six years,” China will be stronger in the region than the United States, the then commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Philip Davidson, told the US Senate in March 2021. According to Davidson, Taiwan is “clearly one of the goals” of the leadership in Beijing.
Wang Jisi, a professor of international relations at the renowned Peking University and one of China’s best-known intellectuals, doesn’t believe that the Chinese government will soon launch an attack on Taiwan. “I have not heard any senior Chinese government official speak of forceful reunification, nor have I heard of a timeline for deploying armed forces to resolve the Taiwan issue,” Wang said loudly South China Morning Post most recently at an event. “I have a concern that some people want to drag China and the US into a war, and that’s something we need to avoid.”
In any case, China is currently doing something to provoke the government in Taipei. Chinese fighter jets keep penetrating the so-called Taiwanese air defense zone, and 29 aircraft were counted on a single day at the end of June alone. Analyst Ryan Hass from the US think tank Brookings Institution believes that Beijing is not doing itself any favours. “The more pressure Beijing put on Taiwan, the clearer American support for Taiwan became,” he says. The United States has been supplying the government in Taipei with defensive weapons for many years, but has left open whether it would also provide direct military support to Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack. US President Joe Biden “clearly has a heart for defending Taiwan and deterring aggression from Beijing,” Hass said. But even Biden does not want to change anything about the current status of the island republic.
“If China attacks us, then we need your help!”
Jack Yao is now back in Taiwan. He lost eight kilos and also contracted bronchitis. “But other than that, I don’t have any major problems,” he says. Before he went to Ukraine, he was active on YouTube, streaming videos there in which he talked for hours about Taiwanese politics, and he was also involved in a local election campaign in Taipei. He hasn’t published anything since his return from the war zone, and he hasn’t updated his channel info on YouTube either. “Currently volunteering in a war zone,” it still says.
“I’ve never been to Ukraine before,” he says. “I never thought that I would visit this beautiful country because of a war.” And then he makes an appeal to the world: “If China attacks us, then we need your help!” Because that one day it will happen , Jack Yao has no doubts about that. (sh)
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