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.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS