Renowned US political scientist Francis Fukuyama yesterday said he thinks Ukrainians are much more willing to defend themselves than Taiwanese, which poses a significant threat to Taiwan’s future and independence.
Fukuyama, the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, made the remarks in a speech titled “Threats to Liberalism and the Liberal World Order” in a virtual forum held by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation.
Russia attacked Ukraine because it wants to undo the effects after the collapse of communism in 1991, he said, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin feels threatened by Ukrainian democracy, which could motivate democratic movements in Russia.
Photo: CNA
“The geopolitical challenge from China is bigger than that from Russia,” he said. “Chinese power is much more multidimensional, in terms of economic, political and increasingly in military powers.”
One domain where Chinese power is not great is in the social and cultural dimension, as non-Chinese in general do not admire its society and do not want to live in the country, he added.
Since the rise of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), China is evolving from an authoritarian to a totalitarian state, with its social credit system being the world’s most advanced surveillance network for the purpose of social control, he said.
International relations are now at an important junction, and depend on how the Russian attack on Ukraine plays out, he said, adding that China is observing how the US and other democracies respond.
Fukuyama also spoke of how the crisis relates to Taiwan’s relations with China.
“We are entering a geopolitical era in which unfortunately we have to take military threats and military power much more seriously,” he said.
“I’m afraid the actions that we thought were unthinkable a few years ago are now thinkable,” Fukuyama said regarding the possibility of China moving its military into Taiwan, adding that Taiwan should rethink its defense policy and reinstate mandatory military conscription.
“I think one of the differences between Taiwan and Ukraine is that, in my perception, the Ukrainians are much more willing to fight for themselves than Taiwanese people, and that poses a really big threat to Taiwan’s future and independence,” he said.
Some Taiwanese believe that the US would protect them in the event of war, but that would only happen if Taiwanese are willing to fight for themselves, he said, adding that the attitudes of Taiwanese and the sacrifices they are willing to make are essential.
Global democracies comprise the greatest share of economic and military power, but a large deficit is that domestic politics in many democratic countries are not supportive of strong international positions, including in the US, he said.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
AIR ALERT: China’s reservation of airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea could be an attempt to test the US’ response ahead of a Trump-Xi meeting, the NSB head said China’s attempts to infiltrate Taiwan are systematic, planned and targeted, with activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” efforts into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, Tsai said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. It uses specific networks to screen targets through exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said. China is also shifting who it targets to lower-ranking military personnel,
RSS