Text: Fang Wen
Before Russian President Putin announced "special military action" against Ukraine on February 24, former US President Trump warned on the 22nd that after the "Ukraine disaster", the next one is Taiwan.
After the war between Russia and Ukraine, it triggered a scramble between the party and government leaders and ordinary netizens on the island of Taiwan. Russia and Ukraine are thousands of miles away and have no direct relationship with Taiwan; however, in connection with Tsai Ing-wen's stubborn clinging to the thighs of the United States, Trump and some other US politicians constantly meddling in the Taiwan issue, it is not empty to cause concern.
Tsai Ing-wen sparked a heated discussion
After Taiwan's regional leader Tsai Ing-wen issued remarks that "Taiwan and Ukraine are different", the relevant topics began to explode.
After Russia announced its troop dispatch, the Ukrainian capital Kiev and Kharkov military command centers were attacked by missiles, and the war continued to burn. Tsai Ing-wen shouted to the United States that Taiwan is more important than Ukraine and listed "three differences" from Ukraine. First, the geostrategic importance, Taiwan is in the so-called "first island chain" of the United States; the second is the advantage of geographical environment, separated from the mainland by the strait; third, Taiwan's high status in the international supply chain. In this regard, Taipei City Councilor Luo Zhiqiang said in a Facebook post on February 24 that no one is happy to see the situation in Ukraine, and taiwan can do nothing but pray for the end of the war, and people will not be ravaged and devastated by war. But what he is more curious about is why Tsai Ing-wen wants to emphasize that "Taiwan and Ukraine are not the same", is this not the three hundred and two silver here?
Ms. Tsai said she felt empathy for Ukraine's situation.
Luo Zhiqiang's post attracted a lot of discussion from netizens, with more than 2,000 messages in one day. People rushed to express their views: "Look good, Taiwan! Ukraine only demonstrates once" "Of course, Taiwan and Ukraine are different, but the United States is the same..." "When the war starts, it will be exactly the same" "The election is coming, it is appeasing the dpp voters" "What is the difference?" Is it self-consolation" "The same or different, the important thing is that the leader does not bring the people into danger" "Nonsense, of course, it is not the same, Ukraine does not have a 'DPP' that is messing around all day" "Different? The same work, the same destination, the result of licking beauty is like this, wake up! "It is the common people who suffer."
Some netizens also think, "What's the difference?" When there was a real war in Taiwan, it was the poor and unfortunate people who were unlucky. Government officials fled one by one, and afghanistan last year was so vividly remembered" "This incident tells us one thing, Ukraine was invaded, the United States in addition to saying condemnation, regret, want them to send troops? No way. Who now believes that the United States will send troops to protect Taiwan? ”
On February 25, Tsai Ing-wen published an article on Facebook entitled "Solemnly Condemn Russia's Aggression against Ukraine, Be Prepared to Ensure National Security." She stressed that Taiwan, as a member of the international community, will join the international community's economic sanctions against Russia and point the sanctions arrow directly at semiconductors.
Some commentators pointed out that according to public information from Taiwan's financial department, Taiwan's export of electronic components to Russia in the past five years is only about 30 million US dollars per year, and if it is expanded to computer equipment, it will be about 300 million to 400 million US dollars per year. The amount of transactions with Russia is actually less than 1% of Taiwan's overall electronic components and computer equipment category of "total annual exports". This teaching people can't help but think of the protracted saying "There is a broom, I will pick it up, and I will never surrender"!
Netizens have left messages under the article: "Do you still have air traffic control for others? "This story tells us: Don't choose political parties and politicians who pose a risk of war!" "It seems that they are all verbally ensuring Taiwan's security, but the fact is that Taiwan is facing the risk of crisis" "Peace is what the people really want!" Please don't send our kids to war! "Why don't you help Ukraine, your favorite American dad?" "The same point is that you shouldn't believe the United States" "I hope you can learn something from this Ukrainian-Russian incident" "What qualifications do Americans have to speak?" "Ukraine has heard that you, the United States, have given up its nuclear weapons, and now that you have been beaten, where are you?" "Trusting America is the first step in the error."
There are very few politicians in attendance
Most of the politicians in the Green Camp followed Tsai Ing-wen and learned from the parrot, of which "Chief Executive" Su Zhenchang was the most eager. Before Su Zhenchang went to the "Legislative Yuan" to deliver a policy address, he was asked about the Russian-Ukrainian war, what measures did Taiwan take to deal with the stability of stock prices and prices? Will Taiwan also become the next Ukraine, and will the Tsai government borrow this mirror? Su Zhenchang said that the situation between Taiwan and Ukraine is very different, Taiwan is not only important in the world industrial chain, but also the geopolitical and geographical environment is also different. He deeply despised the cognitive debate on the deliberate operation of "foreign forces", but some people echoed it.
Su Zhenchang said that Taiwan is very important in the world industrial chain.
Shen Fuxiong, a former "legislator" of the Democratic Progressive Party, stressed that Taiwan and Finland and Ukraine have many similarities and many differences, and Taiwan's current and future leaders should learn from their past and present crises. Geopolitical crisis, worsening inflation, rising interest rate pressure followed, 2022 does not have to think about getting rich, it is a blessing to be able to live.
Scholars' criticism hits the nail on the head
Those who are critical of Tsai Ing-wen's "Taiwan-Ukraine difference" theory are more profound than ordinary netizens. Zheng Qinmo, a scholar with a doctorate in social sciences from the University of Warsaw in Poland and a deep study of NATO and European security, said in an interview with the China Commentary Agency that Ukraine promised to give up nuclear weapons and the United States promised to ensure Ukraine's security, but the United States is now obviously breaking its promise, because US President Biden has drawn the bottom line at the beginning: it will not send troops to Ukraine, only to the front line of Poland to NATO.
Looking back at Taiwan from the situation in Russia and Ukraine, Zheng Qinmo analyzed that Taiwan has been sandwiched between the United States and the mainland for a long time and has become a sandwich cake for the two major powers. Taiwan has also been repaired by the United States very badly, even if Taiwan has a chip, it cannot last forever, because if you do not pay attention, you may be caught up; Ukraine is now being treated as a "sacrifice", which the Ukrainian president himself knows very well, but the international reality is so helpless and cruel. Zheng Geng warned: "Taiwan is the same, which day is beautiful, you (Taiwan) are the sacrifice." "The United States is now an old international policeman" "This is a wake-up call for those rotten politicians who provoke the other side of the strait all day long, thinking that Taiwan can last a week, and the United States will rescue them" "Taiwan should take Ukraine as a good vigilance."
Zhang Qilu, former dean of the Academy of Social Sciences of Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan and current "legislator" of the People's Party, analyzed in an interview with the media and pointed out that the situation in Ukraine and Taiwan have a certain degree of similarity, both of which are sandwiched between the two major powers, and there are also pro-US, pro-Russian, and pro-middle-class disputes within. Zhang Qilu stressed that the key to small countries lies in whether they can stand on their own feet and maintain autonomy, if they only expect human help, they are very uninsurable, and they must have their own strength as the focus, like Ukrainian President Zelensky also regretted that he trusted the United States and abolished nuclear weapons.
Zhang Yazhong, president of Sun Wen School, said in an interview that Taiwan is mainly divided into two factions from the perspective of looking at the Ukrainian crisis: one faction believes that "Taiwan is equal to Ukraine," and now most countries are in solidarity with Ukraine, so if there is a conflict between the two sides of the strait, the United States will help Taiwan; the other faction believes that "Taiwan is not equal to Ukraine," because from a strategic point of view, Taiwan's importance in the Asia-Pacific region is extremely great, and the United States' need for Taiwan far exceeds that of Ukraine, so even if the United States does not send troops to aid Ukraine this time, it will also send troops to aid Taiwan.
Zhang Yazhong believes that the United States wants to use the Ukraine crisis to make profits.
In this regard, Zhang Yazhong pointed out that Taiwan and Ukraine certainly have similar situations, the first is the geopolitical issue, and the second is the national identity issue. The former is because Ukraine is next to Russia, for Russia, the core interest is the strategic bottom line, that is, NATO can not expand military forces to Ukraine, just like the mainland regards Taiwan as the core interest, basically the US military can not be stationed in Taiwan. The latter, including the Wudong and Crimean regions, more than 70 percent identify themselves as Russians, and the situation of national identity fragmentation is the same as in Taiwan.
Zhang Yazhong believes that the United States actually wants to use the Ukrainian crisis to earn profits, such as the interests of arms dealers, so it deliberately creates contradictions between Ukraine and Russia; the United States uses this to garrison troops in all Eastern European regions, and the more Eastern Europe has a sense of war crisis, the more funds will run to the United States, and the more the euro is degraded, the more the dollar can appreciate, which is a major benefit to the United States. As far as this hegemony of the United States is concerned, any international conflict is a profit, so the more international conflicts there are, the greater the interests of the United States; in this Ukrainian-Russian crisis, the most lost is the Ukrainian people; on the contrary, if there is a conflict between the two sides of the strait, the winner will be the mainland, the United States or Japan, and the most miserable will be the people of Taiwan. Zhang Yazhong said bluntly: "Ukraine's situation is a good lesson for Taiwan."