Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Dear Reader, I intended to write about something that happened 75 years ago. But, last week saw a major war erupt in East Europe and I cannot ignore it. And, this week sees alarm spread across the globe that war may also break out in East Asia starting in the Taiwan Strait.

It is almost as if the second world war is repeating itself, except in mirror image: Putin’s Russia is not the victim, but rather the perpetrator, of aggression in East Europe. In East Asia, Xi Jinping’s (習近平) China plays the exact role of the Imperial Japan a century ago, demanding control of East Asia’s raw materials and maritime lines of communication, and menacing Southeast Asia, India, the Pacific isles and, needless to say, Taiwan.

During the Lunar New Year holiday, an unidentified aircraft flew into the airspace of Lienchiang County’s Dongyin Island (東引), a small militarized island in the Matsu archipelago.

The military later said that the plane was a Chinese Harbin Y-12 light civilian aircraft. Although the incident occurred on Feb. 5, the reason for the intrusion and controversy surrounding the incident continue to reverberate.

On the first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and cruise missiles attacked administrative centers and military bases. It was a demonstration of the importance of early-warning systems and raises several questions for Taiwan.