How the war in Ukraine became a mirror held up to Taiwan
Demonstration in support of Ukraine in Taipei.
March 13, 2022. REUTERS - ANN WANG
Text by: Adrien Simorre Follow
5 mins
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the Taiwanese government and citizens have mobilized to support Ukraine.
With the backdrop, the fear of experiencing a similar fate.
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From our correspondent in Taipei,
Official buildings decorated in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, a solidarity fund to support refugees, or weekly demonstrations of support: some 8,000 kilometers from kyiv, Ukrainians have been able to count since the start of the Russian invasion on support in unexpected appearance.
“
The Taiwanese are adorable with me
,” says Daria Zheng, a Ukrainian national who has been living in Taiwan for six years, with emotion.
In the taxi or in the restaurant, the traders refuse that I pay as soon as they learn that I am Ukrainian!
They are really behind us”.
This distant solidarity is no accident.
A democratic and sovereign archipelago located 200km from the Chinese coast, Taiwan is under
constant threat from its powerful neighbour
.
China, which assumes historic rights over the archipelago, has for two years joined the action to the word by regularly sending its military planes to patrol the Taiwanese air identification zone.
13 PLA aircraft (Y-8 EW, J-16*5 and J-10*7) entered #Taiwan's southwest ADIZ on March 14, 2022. Please check our official website for more information: https://t.co/Eko8YrqfWS pic.twitter.com/OREpvh1WjP
— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, ROC 🇹🇼 (@MoNDefense) March 14, 2022
“
Taiwanese are seeing their deepest fears materialize in Ukraine
,” analyzes Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, post-doctoral researcher based in Taipei and former adviser to the European Parliament
.
I believe that this surge of solidarity is also a way for them to express this fear, by mobilizing in the face of a situation that they are also trying to avoid
”.
To channel this desire to help, the Taiwanese government has set up a donation fund, which to date has collected nearly 14 million euros.
"
There are also thousands of in-kind donations, it's very touching
," adds Daria, who helped pack the parcels in the ministry's basements, and whose mother and younger brother are
refugees in Poland
.
I'm immensely proud of how the #Taiwanese people have supported #Ukraine, having so far donated over NT$600 million along with many critical supplies.
We #StandWithUkraine in solidarity as its people fight to protect their freedom & way of life.
pic.twitter.com/N3EPXag2kr
— 蔡英文 Tsai Ing-wen (@iingwen) March 15, 2022
“
As a Taiwanese, I feel empathy for what is happening in Ukraine.
We are also a small country facing a threatening great power
, explains the Taiwanese businessman Koo Kwang-ming.
This 95-year-old independence activist has donated nearly a million euros to the ministry's kitty, making him the largest Taiwanese donor: "
Small countries have limited resources, they need the support of the international community ".
Koo Kwang-ming, independence activist and Taiwanese businessman, donated 900,000 euros for Ukrainian refugees.
© Personal Archives of Koo Kwang-ming,
Because for the Taiwanese, this international solidarity is also a means of drawing attention to their own fate.
The government has jumped on the bandwagon of economic sanctions against Russia and relentlessly condemns Russian aggression.
"
If an international consensus is formed to help small countries in the face of invasions by authoritarian powers, then this will also be beneficial to us
," says Koo Kwang-Ming.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day in Taiwan, we remembered the victims of this tragedy & reminded ourselves how important it is to confront authoritarianism, wherever it may be.
#Taiwan stands with #Ukraine & our friends worldwide in the name of freedom & democracy.
pic.twitter.com/OAnCBkPInF
— 蔡英文 Tsai Ing-wen (@iingwen) March 17, 2022
The funds collected by the government will also be used by European countries bordering Ukraine, already partners of Taipei.
During the pandemic, Poland, Slovakia and even the Czech Republic came much closer to Taiwan, notes researcher Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy.
The fact of supporting these countries today allows Taiwan to maintain this momentum, and to demonstrate its capacity to unite with democracies in the face of authoritarianism”.
Unsurprisingly, Beijing immediately castigated this alignment of the planets, criticizing an attempt by Taipei to
"take advantage" of the crisis to advance its pawns.
"This international solidarity and this unexpected level of action are obviously bad news for China
," analyzes Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy.
This is bound to influence Beijing's calculations to challenge the status quo in the Taiwan Strait
."
Despite everything, the Russian invasion remains an electric shock for Taipei.
The Taiwanese president has certainly refused hasty comparisons, highlighting the "
geostrategic importance
" of Taiwan - the archipelago is for example the world's largest producer of electronic chips.
But among the population, the absence of foreign military intervention in Ukraine gives food for thought.
“
If China invades us, we should expect the same type of international reactions
,” notes activist Koo Kwang-ming
.
This must make us understand that we must be able to defend ourselves alone, and that the mobilization of the entire population is necessary to resist the aggression of a great power
”.
Aware of these fears, the Taiwanese president, in the wake of the Russian invasion, put
on her costume as head of the armies
, announcing for example the doubling of the training time for reservists.
“
The example of the Ukrainian resistance will provide a powerful argument to all those who encourage the Taiwanese army to undertake structural reforms.
In particular to strengthen the role of the military reserve in the defense of the island
”, observes Hugo Tierny, doctoral student based in Taipei and specialist in relations between China and Taiwan.
So many reforms which, in addition to international sanctions, will contribute to increasing the cost of an invasion for Beijing.
“
Taiwanese are very impressed with our defensive spirit
, notes the young Ukrainian Daria Zheng.
But I feel that same solidarity with them.
Like us, they know the price of freedom and how precious it is to be able to decide their own destiny on their own
”.
► To read also: War in Ukraine: how is China, an ally of Russia, positioned?
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