If Russia defeats Ukraine it would embolden China's moves toward Taiwan and Taipei hopes that Kyiv emerges victorious, a senior uniformed Taiwanese military officer said this week in a rare visit to Europe to attend a security forum.
Taiwan has found an increasingly sympathetic ear in parts of central and eastern Europe since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, even though almost all European countries only maintain formal diplomatic ties with Beijing and not Taipei.
Unlike the US, Europe no longer sells big-ticket defense items to Taiwan, fearful of incurring Beijing's wrath, and open visits to Europe by any Taiwanese military officers are highly unusual.
Photo: Reuters
Addressing the Warsaw Security Forum on Tuesday, Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升), Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence, said the war in Ukraine was being closely watched in Taipei.
"We wish for their victory," he said, in footage streamed online from the event, where he attended in person wearing full military uniform and speaking in English.
"There are many things that we can learn from the Ukrainian theatre that we can elevate for our overall readiness," Hsieh added. "The defeat of Ukraine will signal that China can take more aggression towards Taiwan."
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Monday, it condemned Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung’s (林佳龍) attendance at the same forum saying Taiwan was seeking to exaggerate the China threat.
Hsieh raised the alarm about China and Russia's joint military drills.
"If China moves on Taiwan while Russia increases its offensive in Ukraine, the world could face a two-front geopolitical crisis," he said. "Europe today, you are fighting for your own security. If you help us, we can prevent the possibility of war in the Indo-Pacific."
Taiwan has joined in Western sanctions against Russia and has also been studying how the much smaller Ukrainian military has been able to fight its huge neighbor, drawing lessons for how it could deal with any Chinese attack.
Taiwan has complained for the past five years of increased Chinese military pressure, both war games and also "gray zone" activities that stop short of open combat, but are designed to exert pressure, including cyberattacks and undersea cable sabotage.
Hsieh said Taiwan and Europe could learn from each other.
"We have been dealing with China's gray zone operations for years. There is a tremendous [amount of experience about] how we counter disinformation that we can share with Europe, and also how we can benefit us, but also benefit European nations," he said.
EXCUSES: Beijing is using government and research vessels as a pretext to harass the nation and enter its EEZ, and engage in ‘hegemonic expansion,’ the coast guard said The Coast Guard Administration yesterday said it drove away Chinese oceanographic research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 22 (向陽紅33) from restricted waters after warning it that it was in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Chinese vessel entered restricted waters off the coast of Yilan County’s Suao (蘇澳) at 11:35pm on Thursday, the coast guard said, adding that it dispatched the Lanyu patrol vessel and the boat PP-10077 to shadow the Chinese ship and issue radio warnings ordering it to leave. China has no sovereignty over waters off Taiwan’s east coast, Lanyu’s crew told Xiang Yang Hong 22 over the radio, and demanded
Typhoon Mekkhala is likely to come closest to Taiwan on Thursday, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA), which forecast localized rain or thundershowers in western and northeastern parts of the country for that day. As of 2pm yesterday, the eye of the storm was 770km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost point of Taiwan, as it continued to move toward waters east of the Philippines, the agency said. Mekkhala was expected to become a severe typhoon last night, CWA forecaster Lai Hsin-kuo (賴欣國) said. A severe typhoon has maximum wind speeds of more than 184kph, compared with 118kph to 183kph for a
Tropical Storm Mekkhala is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon tomorrow and could come close enough to Taiwan later in the week to prompt a sea warning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2 pm, the storm was located 1,870 kilometers southeast of Taiwan's southern tip and moving west- northwest at 23 km per hour. CWA forecaster Cheng Chieh-jen (鄭傑仁) said Mekkhala is expected to continue moving west-northwest through Tuesday under the influence of the Pacific high- pressure system before gradually turning north toward waters east of Taiwan or south of the Ryukyu Islands. The timing and angle of the
China’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, yesterday sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the Ministry of National Defense said. It is the first such mission in the sensitive waterway since April. Taiwan reports almost daily Chinese military activity around it. The Fujian had passed through the Strait, and the military used “joint intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance methods to closely monitor it,” the ministry said in a brief statement. It also showed a black-and-white picture of the ship taken from above, though there were no aircraft visible on its deck. It did not say exactly where or how the picture was taken. The Chinese
RSS