China’s “united front” tactics targeting Taiwan’s outlying islands bear a resemblance to the Russian infiltration of Crimea before Moscow’s 2014 invasion of the territory, Taiwan’s top national security official said yesterday.
National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) made the remark in response to questions from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lo Mei-ling (羅美玲) at the Legislative Yuan.
Lo drew parallels between Moscow’s justification of its 2022 invasion as “de-Nazifying” Ukraine and Chinese Nationalist Party Chairman Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) comparison of President William La (賴清德) to Adolf Hitler.
Photo: Wang Teng-yi, Taipei Times
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had pledged cooperation in fighting neo-Nazism in their meeting earlier this month, she said, before asking if Beijing is shaping a narrative to legitimize an invasion of Taiwan.
Tsai said the bureau is studying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to identify tactics Beijing might imitate in a military conflict with Taiwan.
Russia’s and Ukraine’s use of drones in the war is of particular interest to the bureau, he said.
The bureau is also observing whether Beijing would copy Russian political propaganda and cognitive warfare techniques, he added.
Describing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as a Nazi leader has been a staple in Moscow’s political strategy to justify the war, Tsai said.
The NSB identified a push by Moscow to intensify the economic, cultural and ethnic integration of Ukraine and occupied Crimea shortly before the war, a tactic that resembled China’s strategy targeting Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, he said.
Regarding a rise in illegal border crossings by Chinese nationals, Tsai said investigators have not ruled out the possibility that some of the cases were part of Beijing-directed espionage.
An economic motive could explain other cases involving impoverished Chinese nationals, he said.
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS