Taiwanese get ready for resisting China
The Telegraph:
When Tony Lu made the long journey from Taiwan to Ukraine just two weeks after war broke out, he planned to distribute relief supplies.
“As I handed out aid packs, I realised that I could contribute much more at the frontlines,” he said. “That’s where many people, like the elderly and young, needed the most help.”
Immediately, he signed up as a volunteer foreign fighter.
The horrific images on the news had called him to action. To him – and many others he knew – the war in Ukraine was an ominous warning for his homeland of Taiwan, an island nation that China claims as its territory and has threatened to take by force.
“I really wanted to understand what was happening between Russia and Ukraine. Like China and Taiwan, the two countries have a lot of shared ties and history,” Mr Lu told The Telegraph.
“This is not a war anybody wanted; it is Putin’s own war,” he said.
Just as Russia did to Ukraine, he added, “China is threatening and intimidating us…one day, missiles really might rain down here [in Taiwan].”
Another recruit, Jack Yao, 29 – inspired by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky's plea for international support – signed up around the same time as Mr Lu, though the two didn’t cross paths.
“In Taiwan, we’re always talking about whether the US would come to our aid if China invaded,” he said. “Now that this has happened in Ukraine, well, shouldn’t we go there to assist, too? If we don’t help them now, how can we ask others to do that for us later?”
Mr Lu, 35, agrees. “We must train, we must be ready – we’re an island nation; we can only rely on ourselves,” he said. “Neighbouring countries like Japan and the Philippines are worried about China’s military build-up, too.”
He and Mr Yao are among about 10 Taiwanese who have fought in Ukraine over the last year.
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Taiwan has good reason to be concerned. Since the Biden bug-out from Afghanistan, Russia and China have both signaled their intent to impose their imperialistic goals on neighboring countries. I expect China may act in the next four years in Taiwan. With their current build-up on islands in the Pacific, they could be a stepping stone to campaigns against the Philippines and Japan too.
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