About 100 Ukrainians and supporters protested outside the de facto Russian embassy in Taipei yesterday to tell the world that “Russia is the aggressor” ahead of the third anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“We are here to remind the world that Russia is the aggressor,” Korean-Ukrainian Oleksandr Shyn, one of the organizers, said at the event outside the de facto embassy — officially the Representative Office in Taipei for the Moscow-Taipei Coordination Commission on Economic and Cultural Cooperation.
Shyn’s remarks were made in an apparent reference to US President Donald Trump’s recent claim that Ukraine started the war with Russia.
Photo: Yu Chien Huang, AFP
“You should have never started it,” Trump said about Ukraine while criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who had expressed concern that his country was not included in the “peace” talks between the US and Russia in Saudi Arabia.
Shyn said the US’ change of stance on Ukraine has left many Ukrainians feeling “betrayed.”
“We hope this [situation] will change,” he said.
Trump also recently labeled Zelenskiy a “dictator” who refuses to hold elections.
There is no question that Zelenskiy is the legitimate president of Ukraine and commander-in-chief of the army, Shyn said.
“We have martial law right now enacted and we cannot have the elections, we cannot endanger our people’s lives by having elections,” he said.
Under Ukraine’s constitution, it is not legal to hold national elections during a period of martial law.
Shyn also said that Ukraine is not opposed to making sacrifices to end the war.
“As the new realities show, we now live in an extremely transactional world. We’ll have to give something and we’ll have to offer something for the help we get, but I hope this will be rational,” he added.
Shyn said the protest was also meant to continue rallying support on behalf of Ukraine, particularly given the invasion has gone on for three years.
“We have a very general message, first of all, to ask for people to support us, but this time, of course, to support Ukraine’s agency and Ukraine’s will and Ukraine’s right to exist,” he said.
“And we also want to remind, as people living in Taiwan, to remind the world that Taiwan is supporting Ukraine, that this country on the other side of the world is standing with the people of Ukraine,” he added.
As of this month, Taiwan’s government has allocated more than US$130 million for infrastructure projects in Ukraine, such as bridges, hospitals, churches and schools, while private donations have exceeded US$32 million, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS