Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) on Friday told the mayor of Ukraine’s capital that their democracies stand on “the front line of resisting” large authoritarian neighbors as Wu announced a donation of US$8 million to Kyiv and Ukrainian medical institutions.
Taiwan has condemned Russia’s invasion, joined Western-led sanctions and donated US$20 million for Ukrainian refugees, mostly raised from the public.
Speaking by videoconference to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, Wu said that Taiwan and Ukraine were both democracies “on the front line of resisting the expansion of authoritarianism,” the ministry cited him as saying.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
“The Taiwanese government and people also face a high threat from the authoritarian regime across the Taiwan Strait, and therefore feel the current situation faced by Ukraine as though it is happening to ourselves,” Wu said.
Taiwan has not previously announced talks between senior Taiwanese and Ukrainian officials.
Wu said that Taiwan would donate US$3 million to the Ukrainian capital and US$5 million to six Ukrainian medical institutions.
He also posted a picture on Twitter of himself talking to Klitschko, a former champion boxer, saying that the mayor’s “fighting spirit” was admirable.
“Champ, we’ll continue to stand with you & your people. Freedom will prevail!” Wu wrote.
Klitschko expressed his appreciation for the donation announced by Wu, and called the ongoing war a fight to safeguard democratic values and freedom, the ministry said.
A government campaign from March 2 to April 1 raised US$33 million in humanitarian aid as well as a large volume of supplies to help Ukraine.
Friday’s donation came from those funds.
Taiwan first sent 27 tonnes of medical supplies at the end of February for distribution by Poland to Ukrainian refugees in that country and Ukrainian citizens who remained in their home country.
Another 650 tonnes of supplies were donated last month by people in Taiwan.
Since late February, more than 5.13 million Ukrainians have fled their country because of the Russian invasion, UN High Commissioner for Refugees data show.
Additional reporting by CNA
China appears to have built mockups of a port in northeastern Taiwan and a military vessel docked there, with the aim of using them as targets to test its ballistic missiles, a retired naval officer said yesterday. Lu Li-shih (呂禮詩), a former lieutenant commander in Taiwan’s navy, wrote on Facebook that satellite images appeared to show simulated targets in a desert in China’s Xinjiang region that resemble the Suao naval base in Yilan County and a Kidd-class destroyer that usually docks there. Lu said he compared the mockup port to US naval bases in Yokosuka and Sasebo, Japan, and in Subic Bay
Police are investigating the death of a Formosan black bear discovered on Tuesday buried near an industrial road in Nantou County, with initial evidence indicating that it was shot accidentally by a hunter. The bear had been caught in wildlife traps at least five times before, three times since 2020. Codenamed No. 711, the bear received extensive media coverage last year after it was discovered trapped twice in less than two months in the Taichung mountains. After its most recent ensnarement last month, the bear was released in the Dandashan (丹大山) area in Nantou County’s Sinyi Township (信義). However, officials became concerned after the
The majority of parents surveyed in northern Taiwan favor the suspension of all on-site classes at schools from the junior-high level and below amid a surge in domestic COVID-19 infections, parent groups said yesterday. About 84.4 percent of respondents in a survey of 2,912 parents in northern Taiwan, where the outbreak is the most serious, said they supported suspending classes, the Action Alliance on Basic Education, the Taiwan Parents Protect Women and Children Association, and the Taiwan Love Children Association said. The groups distributed questionnaires to parents in New Taipei City, Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu city and county from Saturday morning
DETERRENCE: US National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell said cross-strait affairs are on the agenda at the US-ASEAN Special Leaders’ Summit The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday thanked the Czech Senate for passing a resolution supporting Taiwan’s inclusion in the WHO and other international organizations for the second consecutive year. The resolution was passed on Wednesday with 51 votes in favor, one opposed and 11 abstentions. In addition to the WHO, it also called for Taiwan’s participation in the “meetings, mechanisms and activities” of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the International Civil Aviation Organization and Interpol. In its opening, the resolution states that the Czech Republic “considers Taiwan as one of its key partners in the Indo-Pacific region,” while noting its