China this week embarked on major military exercises around the coast of Taiwan, the second such exercise in less than a month and the latest in a series of provocations by Beijing aimed at intimidating Taipei.
That was the background to former Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Anders Fogh Rasmussen's visit to Taiwan last week to declare his full support for freedom, democracy and the right of the Taiwanese people to decide their own future in peace.
In an article in the Financial Times, Rasmussen noted that it is difficult to ignore the similarities with Ukraine and Russia, where an authoritarian leader turns oppressive at home and aggressive abroad.
He said that the democratic world failed to deter Russia's attack on Ukraine, and that we should not make the same mistakes with China and learn the right lessons from the war in Ukraine to prevent it from happening in the Taiwan Strait.
He pointed to what he called some lessons learned, the first of which is that Ukraine remains a free country because its people were willing to fight, Western arms supplies have proven effective only because the Ukrainian people were willing to die to protect their homeland, and China's deterrence depends on the close belief that any invasion of Taiwan will come at a cost. expensive.
The second lesson, according to the writer, is the importance of a strong and unified response from the leaders of the democratic world, and to make it clear that any attempt by China to change the status quo in Taiwan by force will provoke a unified response to the same extent, and the writer called on European politicians to stop sending conflicting signals.
The third lesson is that the last and most important way to deter Chinese action on Taiwan is to ensure Ukraine's victory in the current conflict, because if Russia manages to occupy Ukrainian lands and establish a new status quo by force, it will thus set a dangerous precedent, from which China and other authoritarian powers will learn that the design of the democratic world Weak and that nuclear blackmail and military aggression succeed.
The writer concluded his article by saying that the lesson of history states that appeasement of tyrants does not achieve peace, but rather leads to war and conflict.
That is why all those who believe in a democratic Taiwan and a rules-based international order must work to ensure Ukraine's sovereignty.
If the democratic world learns these lessons and acts now, Taiwan can avoid the horrors of Ukraine, and through continued support, the people of Taiwan and Ukraine can be empowered to decide their own future, one future based on freedom, democracy and self-determination.