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.
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
Taiwan’s economy grew far faster than expected in the first quarter, as booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove a surge in exports, spilling over into investment and consumption, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. GDP growth was 13.69 percent year-on-year during the January-to-March period, beating the DGBAS’ February forecast by 2.23 percentage points and marking the most robust growth in nearly four decades, DGBAS senior official Chiang Hsin-yi (江心怡) told a news conference in Taipei. The result was powered by exports, which remain the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, Chiang said. Outbound shipments jumped 51.12 percent year-on-year to
DELAYED BUT DETERMINED: The president’s visit highlights Taiwan’s right to international engagement amid regional pressure from China President Willaim Lai (賴清德) yesterday arrived in Eswatini, more than a week after his planned visit to Taiwan’s sole African ally was suspended because of revoked overflight permits. “The visit, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed due to unforeseen external factors,” Lai wrote on social media. “After several days of careful arrangements by our diplomatic and national security teams, we successfully arrived today.” Lai said he looked forward to further deepening Taiwan-Eswatini relations through closer cooperation in the economy, agriculture, culture and education, as well as advancing the nation’s international partnerships. The president was initially scheduled to arrive in time to celebrate
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
RSS