Ukraine and Taiwan, both countries struggling for independence and democracy against authoritarian superpowers, have proven time and again their willpower and resilience in realizing this dream. Undoubtedly, the solidarity born from these mirroring situations is of a particular strength, which Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, along with her vice president William Lai and Premier Su Tseng-chang, have demonstrated with their unmistakable stand in support of Ukraine through each leader’s contributions of a month’s salary towards humanitarian aid to Ukraine in their fight to cling to freedom. This comes in the wake of another 27 tonnes of medical provisions donated from Taiwan to Ukraine this week. The people of Taiwan themselves have sympathy as fears of a play by China to overtake Taiwan while attention and resources are aimed at Ukraine and Russia’s invasion circulate. However, these speculations are essentially built upon pure guesswork and theoretical thinking, which in fact has the opposite of a soothing effect as no concrete and final outcome can be determined as long as China remains relatively quiet throughout the current international turmoil. Meanwhile, China has still made it clear that, while it is not a military ally in the conflict as of yet, it supports Russia as a political and trade partner, an obvious red flag for both Ukraine and Taiwan.
This is a display of China’s classic strategy of observing and attempting to meet its ends inconspicuously under the table as a way to escape a punishing reaction from the international community such as through “salami slicing”. While Russia has attempted to play off its attacks in Ukraine as part of a “special military operation”, its actions are full cause to wage war, something China will do its best to afford, as it has done in the past. In my opinion, I believe China hopes to succeed where Russia has failed and is aiming to gain an intelligence of how an invasion and occupation of Taiwan might go by studying what is happening with Russia and Ukraine. At the same time, this is also an opportunity for Taiwan to see its possible future in what is happening in Ukraine. They can see the kind of resistance that arises from an impassioned people and the incredible ability of a disadvantaged yet underestimated country to defend against a globally recognized power. What weapons to use, which not to use, which strategies are successful, which are not, which countries have pushed back the hardest, which have not, as well as how terrain, soldiers’ morale, propaganda, control of media, and sanctions are affecting the war are all being taken into consideration by the world, China, and Taiwan.
In connection to Comparative Government, a lot of similarities can be drawn between the leadership and government of Ukraine and Taiwan, all the way down to the individual level. Geopolitically, both have dangerous proximity to an immense country with which they strongly disagree on the basic foundations of the rights and freedoms of their citizens as people. Because of this, their governments have to always be hyper aware of their neighbors and the political state of their region. Yet, President Zelensky of Ukraine and President Ing-wen refuse to compromise on their democratic ideals and principles in the face of such intimidating enemies.