If Russia defeats Ukraine, it will embolden China’s moves towards Taiwan, and Taipei hopes that Kyiv emerges victorious, a senior uniformed Taiwanese military officer said this week during a rare visit to Europe, drawing an angry response from Beijing.
Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, has found an increasingly sympathetic ear in parts of central and eastern Europe since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, even though almost all European countries maintain formal diplomatic ties with Beijing but not Taipei.
Unlike the United States, Europe no longer sells big-ticket defence items to Taiwan, fearful of incurring Beijing’s wrath, and open visits to Europe by Taiwanese military officers are highly unusual.
Addressing the Warsaw Security Forum on Tuesday, Hsieh Jih-sheng, deputy chief of the general staff for intelligence at Taiwan’s defence ministry, said the war in Ukraine was being closely watched in Taipei.
“We wish for their victory,” he said, in footage streamed online from the event, where he attended in person wearing full military uniform and speaking in English.
“There are many things that we can learn from the Ukrainian theatre that we can elevate for our overall readiness,” Hsieh added. “The defeat of Ukraine will signal that China can take more aggression towards Taiwan.”
China’s foreign ministry said Taiwan was trying to, “capitalise on a hot issue and grab eyeballs.”
“The Taiwan issue is purely an internal Chinese affair, intrinsically different from the Ukraine crisis,” it said in a statement sent to Reuters. On Monday, it condemned attendance at the same forum.
Hsieh also raised the alarm about China and Russia’s joint military drills.
“If China moves on Taiwan while Russia increases its offensive in Ukraine, the world could face a two-front geopolitical crisis,” he added. “Europe today, you are fighting for your own security. If you help us, we can prevent the possibility of war in the Indo-Pacific.”
Taiwan has joined in Western sanctions against Russia and has also been studying how the much smaller Ukrainian military has been able to fight its huge neighbour, drawing lessons for how it could deal with any Chinese attack.
Taiwan has complained for the past five years of increased Chinese military pressure, both war games and “grey zone” activities that stop short of open combat but are designed to exert pressure, including cyber attacks and undersea cable sabotage.
Hsieh said Taiwan and Europe could learn from each other.
“We have been dealing with China’s grey zone operations for years. There is a tremendous amount of experience about how we counter disinformation that we can share with Europe, and also how we can benefit us, but also benefit European nations,” he said.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Ryan Woo in Beijing; Editing by Lincoln Feast)