Nearly 200 people yesterday protested outside the Russian representative office in downtown Taipei, urging the international community to stand with Ukraine and step up efforts to force Russia to halt its invasion of the country.
Protesters also demonstrated on Friday outside the office, called the Representative Office in Taipei for the Moscow-Taipei Coordination Commission on Economic and Cultural Cooperation.
Russian artist Evgeny Bondarenko displayed drawings of a person resembling a cross between Adolf Hitler and Russian President Vladimir Putin and called for the war to stop.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I feel violated, because I am Russian, I have [a] Russian passport, I am born in Russia with Russian family and Russian friends, but I also have a lot of friends in Ukraine, and I respect and love Ukrainian people,” Bondarenko said.
Russia began its attack on Ukraine without obtaining the permission of the Russian people under the assumption that they agreed, he said.
“I say sorry, but you cannot do it like this and just say Russian people agree with this war. You can’t,” he said.
He said he left Russia because of its policies and traveled the world before coming to Taiwan about five years ago.
“My first time in Taiwan, I started to realize what is freedom,” said Bondarenko, who is married to a Taiwanese woman.
Ukrainian Alex Khomenko, one of the organizers of the rally, said he hoped the Russian military would not conquer Ukraine, adding that he would continue to support his country and keep urging Western countries to back Ukraine.
“I think they are still continuing the attacks, so that is the only thing I will be looking at right now,” Khomenko said.
Khomenko added that there were some parallels between the situation in Ukraine and tensions across the Taiwan Strait, but they were not exactly the same.
However, a Taiwanese at the rally surnamed Chang (張) said the situations are similar.
She felt that some Taiwanese had forgotten their history, so she attended the rally to let Taiwanese know that China could copy Russia’s actions.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
LIKE-MINDED COUNTRIES: Despite the threats from outside, Taiwan and Lithuania thrived and developed their economies, former president Tsai Ing-wen said Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday thanked Lithuania for its support of Taiwan, saying that both countries are united as partners in defending democracy. Speaking at a reception organized by the Lithuania-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group welcoming her on her first visit to the Baltic state, Tsai said that while she was president from 2016 to last year, many Lithuanian “friends” visited Taiwan. “And I told myself I have to be here. I am very happy that I am here, a wonderful country and wonderful people,” Tsai said. Taiwan and Lithuania are in similar situations as both are neighbors to authoritarian countries, she
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to visit the UK during her ongoing European trip, which originally included only Lithuania and Denmark, her office said today. Tsai departed Taiwan for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark, marking her second visit to the continent since her two-term presidency ended in May last year. Her office issued a statement today saying that Tsai would also visit the UK "for a few days," during which she is to meet with UK politicians and Taiwanese professionals, and visit academic and research institutions. Following Tsai's stop in Denmark, she is to visit the