Taiwan: Comparisons to Ukraine inaccurate

The Taiwanese government spoke out Monday against comparisons between it and war-torn Ukraine, reports Reuters.

Taiwanese Cabinet spokesperson Lo Ping-cheng said that people should refuse to believe rumors that China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, might pose a similar threat as Moscow does to Kyiv.

“In all areas, the two cannot be compared,” Ping-cheng said. “But there are those using this opportunity to manipulate the so-called [topic] of ‘today’s Ukraine, tomorrow’s Taiwan,’ trying to inappropriately link Ukraine’s situation with Taiwan’s, disturbing people’s morale. This is inadvisable.”

Ping-cheng also said that Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Premier Su Tseng-chang are urging government departments to increase efforts to secure the country in case of “external forces using the Ukraine-Russia conflict to carry out cognitive warfare against us.”

Taiwan reported seven Chinese aircraft in its defense zone Monday, although the aircraft were located far away from the island.

The Taiwanese government refers to this behavior as “grey zone” warfare because it causes Taiwan to repeatedly make provisions in case of attack, wearing out the country’s forces.

Before his invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin cast aspersions on Ukraine’s sovereignty, including recognizing as independent two Russian separatist-held regions in the Donbas region in the country’s east.