Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should serve as a reminder to Taiwanese that dictatorships cannot be trusted, researchers and legislators said yesterday at a conference in Taipei held by the Strategy and Public Research Institute of Taiwan.
Speaking at the event, Institute for National Defense and Security Research research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said the invasion showed that agreements made with a dictatorship would be abandoned at the will of the dictator, citing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the Minsk agreements as examples.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that was signed on Aug. 23, 1939, and broken on June 22, 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The Minsk agreements, drafted in 2014, were aimed at ending war in Ukraine’s Donbas region, and were nullified on Tuesday last week when Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the agreements “no longer existed.”
Russia had intended to fight a quick war, but has met strong resistance from Ukrainians, and is dealing with international sanctions and anti-war protests at home, Su said.
“If Russia is unable to take Ukraine in the next 48 hours, the situation will be unfavorable for Moscow,” he said.
Also speaking at the conference, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) appears to have expansionist ambitions similar to those of Putin, evidenced by China’s activities in the South China Sea, the East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.
Dictators and their supporters try to justify their aggressions and blame their victims, DPP Legislator Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said at the conference.
“Putin claimed his invasion of Ukraine was to remove Nazi elements from the country,” he said. “You see the same in Taiwan, where pro-China elements have been blaming Ukraine for the invasion, saying it had provoked Russia.”
Such people are trying to change discourse in Taiwan by telling people not to provoke China, he said.
Maa Shyh-yuan (馬士元), an associate professor of urban planning and disaster management at Ming Chuan University, said at the conference that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration should express unity with Ukraine and think about ways of strengthening the nation’s resilience in the event of a disaster.
For example, war scenarios should be included in disaster response planning, and crucial businesses should be encouraged to establish plans to ensure sustainable operations in the event of a disaster, Maa said.
Taiwan could hold war response drills, and the fire department could be enlisted to help distribute disaster response supplies, such as is being done in Ukraine, he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS