Charm offensive from Taipei: In the Ukraine war, Taiwan expresses its solidarity with the victims of the Russian attack. That could help the island state against the aggressor China.
Munich/Taipei – It was intended as a punitive measure, but many of those affected should have understood it more as an award: On Monday (March 7th), Russia* put more than 50 countries on its “list of unfriendly states and territories”*, including the USA and all EU members. All of these countries had previously imposed sanctions on Russia because of the Ukraine conflict*. From now on, they will only be paid in rubles for the debts that the Russian state or Russian companies owe them.
Taiwan* is also on the long list: a country whose capital, Taipei, is around 8,000 kilometers from Kyiv, but which, like Ukraine, is threatened by an overpowering neighbor who wants to incorporate its own territory. Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and part of its own territory, although the island was never part of the People’s Republic of China*. For years, Beijing has been threatening to use force to conquer democratically governed Taiwan. Only in the past few weeks, the Chinese top politician Zhang Lianqi called for in the pro-government Global Times a new law “to promote the reunification of the motherland by legal means, whether peacefully or not”. Recently, there have also been several fears that Beijing could use the Russian invasion as a blueprint for an invasion of Taiwan*.
In Taipei, they understand the situation in which Ukraine finds itself only too well.
Taiwan: Support for Ukraine and harsh criticism of Russia
Immediately after the Russian invasion, President Tsai Ing-wen had heavily criticized the invasion. “We strongly condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which violates Ukrainian sovereignty and undermines peace and stability in the region and around the world,” she said. As a “member of the global alliance of democracies”, according to the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one defends “the universal basic values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and human rights”. The message Taiwan is sending is clear: we are on the right side of history; the good ones are in Taipei, not in Beijing*. Unlike Taiwan, China has not yet condemned the Russian invasion. Beijing even refuses to speak of an invasion, instead emphasizing its ties with Moscow*.
The government in Taipei, on the other hand, has made every effort to express its solidarity with Ukraine since the beginning of the war. The day after the invasion, buildings across the country adorned themselves in Ukrainian colors, including the country’s tallest building, the Taipei 101 skyscraper unbroken support for Ukraine*”.
Taiwan: Low economic dependence on Russia
However, Taiwan did not stop at mere gestures. In early March, the government announced it would send 27 tons of medical supplies to Ukraine. A little later, the Foreign Ministry announced that citizens and companies in the country of 23 million had already donated the equivalent of more than ten million euros for humanitarian aid. A large part of the money should go to Poland* to support Ukrainian refugees. China, on the other hand, only announced humanitarian aid worth just 720,000 euros around two weeks after the outbreak of war.
Donated relief supplies are piling up on the grounds of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei. “When I see the news, I cry every day,” the Taiwanese news agency quoted as saying CNA a man who brought sleeping bags and blankets. Many Taiwanese have also expressed their support for Ukraine on social media.
Taiwan had already joined the international sanctions against Russia* at the end of February. Affected are about Taiwanese chip manufacturers. Overall, however, Russia does not play a major role in the country’s foreign trade: According to government figures, less than one percent of Taiwan’s exports went to Russia last year. The fact that Taiwan is now on Russia’s list of “unfriendly” countries will have little impact on trade relations for the time being, said Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. And John Deng, who is responsible for trade relations in the Tsai government, emphasized at a round table discussion at the Brookings Institution on Wednesday that the rising oil price is worrying his country and that Taiwan is also buying other raw materials from Russia. “However, our trade with Russia is not very big,” said Deng.
Taiwan: High-ranking US politicians to visit
Economically, Taiwan has little to lose – but politically it can gain all the more. “There are growing calls in the United States to treat China and Russia as interchangeable enemies and to respond to Russia’s attack on Ukraine with increased American support for Taiwan,” writes Brookings Institution Taiwan expert Ryan Hass. The United States does not officially recognize Taiwan, but supplies the country with arms. However, it is unclear whether Washington would support Taipei in the event of a Chinese attack, even though US President Joe Biden* surprisingly said last year that his government was obliged to do so.
Several former senior US officials visited Taiwan in the past week, including ex-Chief of Staff Mike Mullen and former senior members of the White House national security team and the US Department of Defense. Shortly thereafter, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also traveled to Taipei and called for diplomatic relations to be established between Washington and Taipei. As expected, Beijing was angry.
Sympathy for neighboring Taiwan is also growing in Japan*. “If we tolerate the use of force to change the status quo, Asia will also be affected,” said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, also eyeing Taiwan. Recently, Europe has also cautiously distanced itself from China when it comes to the question of Taiwan. After Lithuania * allowed Taiwan to open a representative office under its own name in the capital Vilnius last year, China imposed sanctions on the EU country. As a result, the EU was unusually closed and initiated proceedings against China at the World Trade Organization*.
Analyst Ryan Hass believes that Putin’s aggression is not only bringing Europe together against Russia; the invasion could also “make Europe less receptive to China’s ambitions and raise global calls for Taiwan as the ‘Ukraine of Asia’.” The war in Ukraine may have had many losers, but Putin’s war could encourage Taiwan’s concern to be perceived by the West as an equal partner. (sh) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
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