Taiwan is not involved in military assistance for Ukraine, as it is “too sensitive,” but would like to establish a representative office in the country, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said on Wednesday during a visit to Berlin.
Taiwan has offered strong moral support to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion two years ago, seeing parallels with the threat Taipei faces from China.
Taiwan has provided millions in US dollars of humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees and joined in Western-led sanctions on Russia.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
While senior Taiwanese officials have spoken directly with some city mayors, there has been no acknowledged direct contact between the two governments.
Speaking to Reuters on Wednesday during a visit to Berlin, Wu said that Taiwan’s goal was to win as many friends as possible.
“Ukraine, even while receiving Taiwan’s support and sensing hostility from China — since China collaborates with Russia, which continues its war against Ukraine — is very careful about its relationship with Taiwan,” he said. “There is a fear within Ukraine that angering China could lead to closer China-Russia collaboration, intensifying military pressure.”
Last year, China put forward a 12-point paper that set out general principles for ending the war, but did not get into specifics.
China did not attend a Swiss peace conference on the war earlier this year.
Wu said Taiwan is focusing on developing relationships with Ukraine through its neighbors and providing humanitarian aid.
“However, military assistance is still too sensitive, so I do not think we are working on security equipment with Ukraine just yet,” he said.
Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) last week said it was up to the US to decide what to do with Taiwan’s decommissioned Hawk anti-aircraft missiles, when asked if they would be transferred to Ukraine.
In Europe, Taiwan only maintains formal diplomatic relations with the Vatican. It has de facto embassies in many European countries, including Russia, but not in Ukraine.
There is no Ukraine representative office in Taipei either.
“We are also doing our utmost to develop relations with Ukraine, but for now, we have not gone as far as establishing a representative office. Perhaps in the future — it is certainly Taiwan’s wish — but for now, I do not think we are there yet,” Wu said.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS