Taiwanese support for Kiev amid the ongoing Ukrainian conflict is likely a product of Taipei’s eagerness to please the United States, geopolitical commentator Bi Dianlong has explained.
Speaking with Sputnik China, Bi argued that Taiwanese authorities have always followed the United States’ lead and been eager to be Washington’s “pawn”.
“Whomever the US would point at, Taiwan would support them,” he remarked.
Bi also suggested that Taiwan compares its own situation with the conflict in Ukraine, pondering on the prospects of reunification with mainland China through military means.
“The Taiwan administration wants to use this opportunity to attract the attention of the international community and to gain the support of western powers, just like Ukraine does,” Bi argued. “Also, Ukraine recently voiced its displeasure over China’s neutral stance on the Ukrainian issue. Therefore, by supporting Ukraine, Taiwan also wants to attract the international community’s attention to China’s neutral stance.”
Meanwhile, Taiwan's National Security Bureau Director-General Chen Ming-tong declared that China has been paying attention to the events that unfold in Ukraine, and that the Chinese military “has borrowed from the experience of the Russia-Ukraine war to develop 'hybrid warfare' against Taiwan and strengthen its combat training and preparation against strong enemies,” according to Reuters.
Chen also told local lawmakers that China’s alleged military threat coalesced support from the United States and its allies for Taiwan “to ensure what happened to Ukraine would not be repeated across the Taiwan Strait,” as the media outlet put it.
While Taiwan has been governed independently since 1949, Beijing regards it as one of China’s provinces.
Despite Taiwan claiming that it is an autonomous country, the People’s Republic of China considers the island to be their inalienable part and opposes any official contact by foreign states with Taipei.
Nevertheless, two delegations of US congressmen led by Republican Brad Wenstrup and Democrat Seth Moulton have arrived in Taiwan this week to meet the head of the island's administration Tsai Ing-wen.
This move, which did little to improve Sino-US relations, comes after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in August, heightening the tensions in the region and prompting China to large-scale military exercises in the region’s vicinity.
Although Taiwan previously alleged that China may send its military to retake control of the island, Beijing has refuted such claims and repeatedly insisted that reunification with Taiwan would occur through peaceful means.