Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has raised its alert level since the Russian invasion, wary of Beijing making a similar move on the island. Taiwan’s Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said they had “contacted” foreign countries to talk about how the war was being conducted. While Taiwanese officials have seen many parallels in the Ukraine war and their own situation, including that of their own giant neighbor with territorial ambitions, they have also noted significant differences. Taiwan spoke, for example, of the “natural barrier” of the Taiwan Strait, which would make China deploy troops on the ground much more difficult than Russia crossing its land border with Ukraine. Taiwan also has a large and well-equipped air force and is developing its own formidable missile attack capability.
