One More Place As Struggle For Surviving As Ukraine: Taiwan
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Tsai Ing-wen's government widely delivers a message to the world: Taiwan has been in such a dangerous situation as Ukraine for a long time. Similar to as Ukraine, there is a regional hegemony beside Taiwan, and the tenuous relations lead to growing tensions in the area.
The hegemonic country, China, has risen since 2008. The high-speed development of the economy, technology, and the vast demographic dividend (人口紅利) make China become a significant regime that no one can deny its existence. As the "political unit" with sovereignty issues with China, Taiwan can feel the threats.
Beijing not only puts pressure on those countries building ally relations with Taiwan but did what it could to squeeze the surviving space of Taiwan globally. Moreover, the Chinese government also denies recognising the national status of ROC. Furthermore, one of the domestically political propaganda released by the president of PRC, Xi Jinping, claims to unify Taiwan militarily before 2049.
However, Taiwan keeps finding a way to survive. The day before yesterday, ROC's President Tsai addressed a video speech at the Copenhagen democracy summit. Tsai said that Taiwan shares the same values, democracy and freedom, with many democratic regimes. Also, the relations between Taiwan and some European countries are flourishing. She presented much appreciation for generous support from states being friendly to Taiwan.
Taiwan increased its exposure during the covid pandemic. Taipei delivered medical masks to the countries that urgently needed the resource, like Japan, Germany, Netherland, Slovak etc. The feedback from such states was the Covid vaccines that Taiwan lacked at that time.
Considering the situation in Taiwan, I have no confidence in saying that Taiwan has enough military forces to fight with China. Yet, Taiwan's terrain is not easy to conquer without sending many troops. More crucially, two-thirds of the island is dominated by mountains, and the east coasts are cliffs from where it is almost impossible to let armed forces attack.
We must notice that the Taiwanese have soft power and should not be underestimated. According to an American news press, Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce, reminds the government that the U.S. highly depends on chip imports from Taiwan. She implies that "Taiwan is a key source of imports for the U.S., with manufacturer TSMC alone estimated to account for almost 90% of chip production for U.S. tech behemoths like Apple, Amazon and Google".
The leading technology of the semiconductor industry becomes an invisible shield to protect the island and islanders. Indeed, it shows that Taiwan's importance is clearly seen. I am proud of myself as a Taiwanese, and I strongly hope the future of cross-strait relations can be harmonious.
