TAIPEI: If Russia defeats Ukraine, it will embolden China’s moves towards Taiwan and Taipei hopes that Kyiv emerges victorious, a senior uniformed Taiwanese military officer said this week during a rare visit to Europe, drawing an angry response from Beijing.
Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, 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 maintain formal diplomatic ties with Beijing but not Taipei.
Unlike the United States, Europe no longer sells big-ticket defence items to Taiwan, fearful of incurring Beijing’s wrath, and open visits to Europe by any Taiwanese military officers are highly unusual.
Addressing the Warsaw Security Forum on Tuesday (Sep 30), Hsieh Jih-sheng, deputy chief of the general staff for intelligence at Taiwan’s defence ministry, 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.”
China’s foreign ministry said Taiwan was trying to “capitalise on a hot issue and grab eyeballs”.
“The Taiwan issue is purely an internal Chinese affair, intrinsically different from the Ukraine crisis,” it said in a statement sent to Reuters.
