Camille Grand, Janka Oertel & Jana Puglierin
Nearly 8,000 kilometers separate Taipei and Kiev, but reminders of the fate of Ukraine are ever-present in Taiwan’s capital. They are seen in a yellow solidarity wristband with the word “unbroken” emblazoned in blue, a symbolic gift from the mayor of Lviv to his Taiwanese hosts. A Ukrainian flag drapes the wall of a meeting room, while a Taiwanese activist fighting Chinese disinformation wears a smaller version on his lapel as a sign of solidarity. Every conversation holds the shared conviction: the struggles of these two geopolitical theatres are inextricably intertwined.
Ukraine and Taiwan see themselves as being on the front line of defence of democracy, freedom and information warfare. Both have to hold their own against powerful, authoritarian neighbours, who are closely collaborating to exert maximum pressure. “Russia and China have employed an identical narrative to justify their actions against us,” explains a Taiwanese researcher. “They claim that we have no right to make our own choices, that we possess no identity of our own, and that our governments are mere puppets of the United States.”
Trump’s Indo-Pacific playbook
The US is a key source of defence and security support for Ukraine, but for Taiwan it is even more critical. Although cooperation with Japan and the Philippines has been enhanced, Taipei cannot withstand a Chinese attempt to take the island by force without the US. The images of US president Donald Trump publicly humiliating Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky at the Oval Office, followed by America’s abrupt suspension of military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, has cast a shadow of strategic uncertainty over Taiwan.
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