Written by Jacob Parker. This article examines the impact of the Russo-Ukrainian War on the attitudes of the Taiwanese public and politicians, with some questioning the credibility of US support for Taiwan. It argues that, for the sake of democracy, America cannot afford to let its support waver. The US must stand firmly with its democratic partners.
Written by Chieh-Ting Yeh. This article argues the Trump administration’s approach to Ukraine cast a long shadow over America’s commitment elsewhere. The Taiwan issue does not just have strategic significance beyond Asia, it is also the defining test of the US commitment to maintaining a rules-based international order. Abandoning Taiwan undermines the credible deterrence of the US.
Written by Patricia Elnakhal, H.K. Wind and Fengze Strategy. Currently, the controllable intensity on the Taiwan Strait can potentially escalate. The growing frequency of analogous cases that several military aircraft from the mainland flying into the island’s air defence zone cause the intensity on this territory, while the situation is still under control because these actions are mainly for strategic purposes. More importantly, none of the powers is fully prepared for uncontrollable collisions, but the situation’s development indeed keeps invisibly escalating. As a lesson from the Ukraine war, Taiwan has to construct an unbroken and heavy rope connecting itself to the international community to prepare well earlier for various possibilities. The connection between Taiwan and the international community could be observed through two main aspects: the diplomatic interactions connecting to international politics and the economic development connecting to the international market.
Written by Olga Daksueva. The Russia-Ukraine war brought back discussions on national identity and how it is formed. National identity consists of two components: ethnocultural and political. Ethno-culture is often viewed as “the core of a nation and national identity,” which includes language, history, culture, and religion. It is argued to become the passé and to be replaced by the political component, which is designed through state sovereignty and territorial boundaries, delimiting the extent of nations and, by doing so, forming commonalities within the nations. However, the fact that we share a common territory is insufficient to get attached to the country. States also utilise various means to shape salient national identity through “rediscovery, reinterpretation and regeneration of [national] community.”
Written by Max Dixon. Therefore, the grievances, tactics and repression of the protest movements outlined here enable a clear foreshadowing of the approaches of Russia and China that would follow. Yet where Ukraine and HK saw their political systems collapse in their post-movement societies, the strength of Taiwan’s democratic institutions and values prevailed. This resulted in negotiating with the Sunflower Movement’s strains and the calls to repress it, which have seen a stronger Taiwan emerge.
Written by Josie-Marie Perkuhn and Hung-yi Chien. Therefore, we call for a more comprehensive cross-perspective and interdisciplinary academic dialogue to encounter the current segregations and broaden the community by strengthening the interconnectivity. Although some topics, such as identity politics and the cross-strait tension, have caught particular attention in recent years, Taiwan studies still lack some ‘infrastructure’ that helps new students of Taiwan to grow upon it. With this sort of infrastructure, even if Taiwan lose its existence as an independent entity in the future, the shared discipline of sinology researching Taiwan, in particular, will last, and Sinitic knowledge will become the common heritage of human beings.
