Taiwan authorities "required ASUS to sanction Russia", Taiwanese scholars asked: Showing the limelight is more important than safeguarding Taiwan's interests?
[Global Times reporter Yu Ming] Ukraine named Taiwan's ASUS Computer Company to join the ranks of sanctions against Russia, and the DPP authorities immediately agreed.
According to Taiwan's "Economic Daily" report on the 13th, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Fedorov tweeted, naming ASUS to terminate cooperation with Russian customers, including providing hardware and electronic products and providing technical support to Russia. Serve.
He said, "Russians have no moral right to use Asus technology! Technology is for peace, not for war."
Fedorov also posted an open letter to ASUS Chairman Shi Chongtang, calling on ASUS to stop doing business in Russia until Russia’s military operations against Ukraine are completely stopped, “Now more than ever, the lives of Ukrainians depend on your choice".
Taiwan media noticed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used an ASUS laptop when he held an online video conference with U.S. lawmakers a few days ago.
As soon as Ukraine made a statement, Taiwan's "Executive Yuan" consultant Zheng Honghui quickly called on ASUS on Facebook on the 12th to "take the height of the world's technology giants, take the responsibility of maintaining the international order, and stand with the global technology giants to boycott Russia." Said, "Don't expose investors to long-term trade risks because of temporary economic interests... Don't let the image of Taiwanese companies be buried with them."
Zheng Honghui "recommended" ASUS and all Taiwanese companies that set up branches in Russia to immediately respond to the withdrawal action and boycott Russia in unison, claiming that "this is a fateful decision to protect Taiwan's brand, technology and capital security, and it is also a critical moment in the struggle for world peace... ...please show the courage of ASUS and say no to Russia!"
Statistics show that Taiwan exported US$1.32 billion to Russia last year. The top three export items were computer spare parts, storage media, computers and their auxiliary units. Among them, Asustek’s gaming laptops have been in the leading position in Russia for many years, especially the middle and high-end products. The market share of gaming laptops has been maintained at more than 30%.
ASUS has not responded for the time being, and many Taiwanese brands are reluctant to make a statement.
Industry insiders said that Taiwanese brand owners are currently cautious and low-key, mainly because they do not want to be involved in political wrestling.
A media person wrote an analysis saying that after the DPP authorities followed the United States to announce sanctions against Russia, Russia recently announced a list of "unfriendly countries and regions", and Taiwan was among them. As a result, senior officials of Tsai Ing-wen's authorities were complacent and completely underestimated Russia's retaliation. Likelihood and Severity.
The article asks whether the authorities have seriously considered the overall interests of Taiwan and assessed the possible negative effects, or have they just followed the pace of the United States, or used the Ukraine crisis to gain a sense of international presence?
Chen Yixin, an honorary professor of the Department of Diplomacy and International Relations at Tamkang University, criticized this kind of ignorant but eloquent authorities.
Is it more important to be in the limelight than to safeguard Taiwan's interests?
"Stupid complacent," the China Times said in an article on the subject that Taiwan's sanctions against Russia have triggered Russian retaliation, which will certainly have adverse effects in the long run. How can the Tsai authorities be so relaxed or even complacent?
"It's like a duck in July and a half, I don't know whether to live or die."