Difference between Ukraine Crisis and Taiwan Divide
Ukraine: Ukraine officially declared itself an independent country on 24 August 1991, when the communist Supreme Soviet (parliament) of Ukraine proclaimed that Ukraine would no longer follow the laws of USSR and only the laws of the Ukrainian SSR, de facto declaring Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union. However, the Russo-Ukrainian tussle began in 2014 following the Russian annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. The Russian government feared that Ukraine's membership of the EU and NATO would complete a western wall of allied countries by restricting Russia's access to the Black Sea. Russia wants the US and NATO to promise that they would never allow Ukraine to become a member of the alliance, saying that Ukraine should be a buffer, neutral state. Moscow has also called for NATO to cease all military activity in Eastern Europe, blaming it for undermining the region’s security. But Western leaders have rejected those demands. They say the Kremlin cannot be allowed an effective veto on Kyiv’s foreign policy decisions and have defended NATO’s “open-door policy”, which grants any European nation the right to ask to join.
The Ukraine crisis: Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions are fighting Ukraine. It is an area collectively known as the Donbas. It broke away from Ukrainian government control in 2014 and proclaimed themselves independent “people’s republics”. The move led to a bloody conflict between Ukraine and Russia-backed forces, which partly ended with the signing of the Minsk agreement in 2015. On 22 Feb 2022, Russia recognised the independence and sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic,” by signing a decree.
The China-Taiwan divide: the first known settlers in Taiwan were Austronesian tribal people, who are thought to have come from modern day southern China.
The island seems to have first appeared in Chinese records in AD239, when an emperor sent an expeditionary force to explore the area - something Beijing uses to back its territorial claim. From the 17th Century, significant numbers of migrants started arriving from China, often fleeing turmoil or hardship.
At the heart of the divide is that the Chinese government sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that will, eventually, be part of the country again. Taiwan has its own constitution, democratically-elected leaders, and about 300,000 active troops in its armed forces. Relations between China and Taiwan started improving in the 1980s. China put forward a formula, known as "one country, two systems", under which Taiwan would be given significant autonomy if it accepted Chinese reunification.
in 1971, the UN switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing rather than the government in Taiwaan. Since then the number of countries that recognise the ROC government diplomatically has fallen drastically to about 15. protesters demonstrating against the Chinese mainland's increasing influence. Some Taiwanese Most of the people in Taiwan worry that their economy is now dependent on China. Others believe that closer business ties make Chinese military action less likely, because of the cost to China's own economy. Tsai Ing-wen is elected president who supports a separate nation - whether or not independence is ever officially declared. Ms Tsai won a second term in 2020. At the same time, the US has been intensifying its outreach to Taiwan and reassuring Taipei of its continued support.
India’s Take on Ukraine: India is against a Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, it did not criticise Russia, like the West did? There are two main reasons. First, India and Russian are very close friends. India’s public questioning of Russia will damage the friendship. At this time, India needs to show solidarity, rather than emphasize differences with Russia. Thus India chose to abstain from voting against Russia in The UN.
Second, Russia may have privately assured India that it will not mount a direct invasion against Ukraine. That may be the reason why India has not withdrawn its diplomat from Ukraine.
In the past few years, there have been many high-level contacts between India and the United States, and it was agreed that the two countries should avoid misjudgment of each other. The Pentagon’s interpretation of India’s support for Russia is exactly the sort of misjudgment that must be avoided. If a similar misinterpretation impacted an issue directly impinging India-U.S. relations, I am afraid this risk will be even greater.
China’s take on Ukraine: Similarly, China has not publicly criticised Russia. That is, the two neighboring countries must remain friendly, and this friendship will benefit both sides. For example, China’s energy security can be met through Russian overland oil and gas pipelines, which reduces the risk of energy transportation in the Persian Gulf and the Malacca Strait. Russia will also gain huge economic benefits from its exchanges with China. As neighbors, it is a natural process for China and Russia to establish a partnership.
Difference between Ukraine crisis & Taiwan divide: Some advocate U.S. military action for the defense of Ukraine. They feel that if the US doesn’t deter or prevent Russian aggression in Ukraine, Russia will succeed in bullying Ukraine into submission or conquering it. Taking a cue, the Chinese, are likely to follow the same path against Taiwan. However, Ukraine and Taiwan have different arrangemants with the US.
The United States has effectively been an ally and is committed to the defense and independence of Taiwan since the early 1950s. The US had a mutual defense treaty (signed in 1954) with Taiwan. In addition, The US continuously supplied military and diplomatic aid to Taiwan throughout the 1960s. The American administration during the 1950s threatened atomic war to defend Taiwan twice. The mutual defense treaty with Taiwan was further solidified when the Carter administration passed the Taiwan Relations Act in 1979. That Act committed the United States to “resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people of Taiwan.”
On the other hand, the United States established diplomatic relations with Ukraine only in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union. There is no “Ukraine Relations Act” that commits the United States to the defense of Ukraine, though the Budapest Memorandum provided “security assurances” to Ukraine in return for its surrender of former Soviet nuclear weapons. And while some in the U.S. (including President George W. Bush) and in Europe talked about inviting Ukraine to join NATO (which would commit the United States to come to their defense), it didn’t happen. NATO expansion wisely stopped short of Ukraine because historically and geographically Ukraine has been in the Russian sphere of influence. And in 2014, the Obama administration prudently refused to come to Ukraine’s defense when Russia invaded the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, stating that Ukraine is a “core interest” for Moscow, but not for the United States.
The differences, therefore, between Ukraine and Taiwan are clear. The independence of Ukraine is not a vital security interest of the United States, while the independence of Taiwan is. Russia, with its economic size (The US GDP is $ 22.6 trillion, China’s GDP is $16.6 trillion, while Russia’s GDP isonly $1.7 trillion), poses no national security threat to the United States (other than its nuclear weapons). But China, with an economy that rivals the United States’ and whose Belt and Road Initiative and growing military (including nuclear and naval) power threaten predominance on the Eurasian landmass. The US foothold in Taiwan will always be a key geopolitical barrier in the Western Pacific and it would keep the balance of power against China in East Asia and beyond.
Conclusion: The US thus needs to speak with unmistakable clarity on both Ukraine and Taiwan. Te US signed an executive order to halt US business activity in the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. The European Union is expected to agree unanimously to a set of “robust and massive” sanctions against Russia. EU is quite dependent on Russian gas which comes through pipeline. The UN ambassador, demanded that Moscow cancel its recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk and immediately withdraw “occupation troops” sent there, and return to negotiations.
On the other hand, the US should deploy sufficient forces in and around the South China Sea and construct a security alliance with countries in the region that will serve to deter China, while toning down the rhetoric over Ukraine and not getting The US into a war with Russia. India on the other hand should continue to support the US on Taiwan but follow wait and watch policy on Ukraine.