Taiwan

2022 - 2 - 23

Global Consequences: What If Russia's Ukraine Invasion ... (Forbes)

Tiny Taiwan is the United States' 9th largest trading partner. How would the U.S. respond if China invaded the island?

Some have even argued Ukraine is a distraction from that,” says David Sacks, research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “The U.S. could not afford to stand aside as both these events occurred one after the other – it would threaten the balance of power in the two most important regions of the world, and our allies in both Europe and Asia would be deeply unsettled.” “For China, Taiwan is even lower down the totem pole than Ukraine,” says Grossman. “Ukraine is an internationally accepted sovereign nation, whereas Taiwan only has 13 official diplomatic partners worldwide, and pretty much all of them are not major players on the world stage… Therefore, much like with Ukraine, the U.S. is under no formal obligation to come to its defense. Of course, that remains to be seen, and in a December interview National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan demurred when asked a similar question, expressing optimism that such a scenario would never come to pass. Out of Taiwan Semiconductor’s 17 fabrication plants, two are based in mainland China. Taiwan-headquartered Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer and the maker of iPhones, Dell Computers and Sony televisions, houses most of its factories in mainland China, and is one of the country’s largest employers. China is Taiwan’s largest trading partner, responsible for 26% of total trade – that’s two times the trade volume Taiwan engages in with the U.S., its second largest trading partner. Bolstering the U.S. interest in protecting Taiwan are the strong economic ties between the two countries and Taiwan’s critical role in the global supply chain, which has been increasingly under stress during the pandemic. Taiwan is the United States’ ninth largest trade partner, with over $100 billion worth of goods and services transacted between the two countries in 2020, mostly Taiwanese exports, leaving the U.S. with an almost $30 billion trade deficit. Both have been under immense threat of invasion for years and engaged in military skirmishes and standoffs in recent history. However, while the economic relationship between the U.S. and Taiwan is strong, the island’s relationship to its neighboring power is even stronger, adding a further incentive for reunification from China’s point of view. The most urgent of such scenarios, China’s 70-year itch to reunify itself with Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province, comes right to the forefront. Instead, he falsely hoped that the threat of economic sanctions and tough rhetoric would be enough to dissuade Putin’s ambitions.

For Taiwan, Russia's invasion of Ukraine feels far away (Bay to Bay News)

FILE - Taiwanese soldiers salute during National Day celebrations in front of the Presidential Building in Taipei, Taiwan on Oct. 10, 2021. As Russia presses ahead with its attack on Ukraine, many analysts and internet users have drawn comparisons to ...

Some in Taiwan See Parallels to Ukraine (The New York Times)

Some analysts worry that a weak global response to Ukraine could embolden China's Communist Party to ramp up pressure on self-governed Taiwan.

There are key differences between Ukraine and Taiwan. While most countries do not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation, the island is an important trade partner for the United States and a crucial node in the global supply chain. Though the comparison is not perfect, Taiwan, like Ukraine, has long lived in the shadow of a large and overbearing neighbor. While Beijing now regularly sends warplanes toward Taiwan, there is no sign that an invasion of the island is imminent. Both China’s leader, Xi Jinping, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia have appealed to nostalgia for an idealized imperial past to justify their present-day territorial claims. While the Biden administration has said outright that it would not send troops to defend Ukraine, it has not said whether it would defend Taiwan. The policy, known as “strategic ambiguity,” has historically served as a pillar of American deterrence. “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory, and the Taiwan issue is purely China’s internal affairs,” Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

China Says U.S. Warship Sailing in Taiwan Strait 'Provocative' (U.S. News & World Report)

The U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet said the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson was conducting a "routine" transit through international ...

"The United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows." Beijing calls Taiwan the most sensitive and important issue in its relations with Washington. Taiwan's Defence Ministry said the ship sailed in a northerly direction through the Strait, that its forces had monitored its passage and observed nothing out of the ordinary. Taiwan's Defence Ministry said that on Saturday eight Chinese aircraft - six fighters and two anti-submarine aircraft - flew into its ADIZ, to the northeast of the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands at the top end of the South China Sea. "The ship's transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," 7th Fleet spokesperson Nicholas Lingo said in a statement. TAIPEI (Reuters) -A U.S. warship sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait on Saturday, part of what the U.S. military calls routine activity but which China described as "provocative".

Taiwan sees limited impact from Ukraine war on chip supply chain (Reuters)

Taiwan expects little impact from the war in Ukraine on the supply of key raw materials for semiconductors, the government said on Saturday.

Domestic companies also have the ability to refine and "remanufacture" palladium, so there should be no impact, it said. Russia produces neon, C4F6 and palladium. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

For all its parallels, Ukraine war feels distant in Taiwan (Titusville Herald)

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The Russian attack on Ukraine has put a spotlight on another place that could face an invasion by its larger neighbor, ...

shock waves from Ukraine reach Taiwan (unknown)

With the threat of invasion from China ever present, Taiwanese people's fears are now playing out in eastern Europe.

On Taiwan’s north-east coast in Yilan, a Ukrainian restaurant owner, Sergei Balagov, is watching the invasion of his home from afar. It is a busy day before the long weekend, but Ukraine is at the top of her mind. Bebe believes it is up to Taiwan to defend itself. “I don’t think we will have war today, but now I see everything happening I’m a little bit worried.” The crisis has raised questions about Taiwan’s preparedness and the commitment of its friends. “My feeling is the situation will change drastically in their mind if there are invaders stepping on their country and try to force their will,” he says. There is speculation about whether Beijing might use this crisis to make its move, while the world is focused on Ukraine. “China may think about using military action against Taiwan at any moment,” Taiwan’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, said earlier this month. “[In Ukraine] many big countries have done nothing at all except for sanctioning and praying! It was heralded – albeit with some exaggeration – as “the most dangerous place on Earth”, under growing threat of invasion by Xi Jinping’s China, which considers the independently governed democracy to be a Chinese province. But J Michael Cole, a Taiwan-based China expert, warns there is a danger in assuming autocratic leaders like Putin and Xi are making decisions rationally. On Thursday, Beijing sent nine warplanes into Taiwan’s air defence zone – a slightly larger than average sortie among the near daily incursions of the last two years. Analysts and China watchers say it is unlikely an attack is imminent.

Taiwan warns Chinese aircraft in its air defense zone (unknown)

Taiwan's air force scrambled again on Thursday to warn away nine Chinese aircraft that entered its air defense identification zone, Taiwan's Defense ...

"We urge the US side to recognize the high sensitivity of the Taiwan issue, stop interfering in China's internal affairs and stop playing with fire on the Taiwan issue," Tan said. Taiwanese fighters were sent up to warn the Chinese aircraft and air defense missiles were deployed to "monitor the activities," the ministry said, using standard wording for how Taiwan describes its response. Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained of regular such missions by the Chinese air force over the last two years, though the aircraft do not get close to Taiwan itself.

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