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China says Taiwan is ‘not Ukraine’ as island raises alert level

China says Taiwan is ‘not Ukraine’ as island raises alert level
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying holds a weekly press briefing. Photographer: Artyom Ivanov/TASS/Getty Images

China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has stepped up military activity near the self-governing island over the past two years, though Taiwan has reported no recent unusual manoeuvres by Chinese forces as tension over Ukraine has spiked.

 – Taiwan is “not Ukraine” and has always been an inalienable part of China, China‘s foreign ministry said on Wednesday, as Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen called for the island to beef up vigilance on military activities in response to the crisis.

The comments come after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson flagged the risk for Taiwan in a warning last week about the damaging worldwide consequences if Western nations failed to fulfil their promises to support Ukraine‘s independence. Read full story

China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has stepped up military activity near the self-governing island over the past two years, though Taiwan has reported no recent unusual manoeuvres by Chinese forces as tension over Ukraine has spiked.

Speaking in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying dismissed any link between the issues of Ukraine and Taiwan.

Taiwan is not Ukraine,” she said. “Taiwan has always been an inalienable part of China. This is an indisputable legal and historical fact.”

The issue of Taiwan is one left over from the civil war, but China‘s integrity should never have been compromised and never has been compromised, Hua added.

The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the civil war to the Communists, who set up the People’s Republic of China.

Taiwan‘s government strongly opposes China‘s territorial claims. Tsai says Taiwan is an independent state called the Republic of China, which remains Taiwan‘s official name.

All security and military units “must raise their surveillance and early warning of military developments around the Taiwan Strait,” Tsai told a meeting of the working group on the Ukraine crisis set up by her National Security Council.

Taiwan and Ukraine are fundamentally different in terms of geostrategy, geography and international supply chains, she added, in details of the meeting provided by her office.

“But in the face of foreign forces intending to manipulate the situation in Ukraine and affect the morale of Taiwanese society, all government units must strengthen the prevention of cognitive warfare launched by foreign forces and local collaborators,” it cited Tsai as saying.

The statement did not mention China by name, but the country is the most significant military threat that Taiwan faces.

Tsai has expressed “empathy” for Ukraine‘s situation because of the military threat the island faces from ChinaRead full story

(Reporting by Yimou Lee, Ben Blanchard and Emily Chow; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Clarence Fernandez)

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  • Dave Martin says:

    People need to spend time reading the history of Taiwan (Republic of China) to understand why China (PRC) is correct in saying “Taiwan is not Ukraine”.

    After the Civil War in China (ending 1949), the ruling Kuomintang party fled the communist rebels and occupied Taiwan. The Kuomintang declared themselves the rulers of all of China from their base on the island. Similarly the CCP claimed that Taiwan was also a part of China with the crucial difference being that the country was ruled from Beijing.

    This remained the de facto relationship until the 90’s. For most of that time the Kuomintang remained the rulers of Taiwan and saw themselves as rulers of One China which included the mainland.

    If one looks at the constitution of Taiwan and the legislative structures that control the island they are either overtly One China or at best ambiguous. For example, the highest legal body in Taiwan in the Legislative Yuan which has dedicated seats for Tibetans and (Inner-)Mongolians! Why would an independent island nation need Tibetan representatives from thousands of kilometres away?

    As a result, most countries and international bodies (e.g. UN) regard Taiwan as part of China.

    This is completely different to Ukraine, which is viewed by every country and international body as an independent country.

    Google “wikipedia One China policy” to get a decent summary of the complexity of this relationship.

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