Washington Post reporter Josh Rogin asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday to advise Taiwan on how it could “stand strong as China seeks to impose its control over a free people, by force if necessary.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s initial response was arrogant and restrained, but on Monday, the state-run Global Times erupted in a hysterical rant against Rogin for asking the question and daring to write about Zelensky’s answer.
The Global Times began by echoing the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s point that Zelensky answered Rogin’s question without using the words “Taiwan” or “China” himself, which supposedly demonstrates that Zelensky was “cautious” about alienating Beijing and “more prudent than many American politicians.”
“Zelensky understands the issue concerns China’s core interest and didn’t fall for the trap set by Rogin,” the Global Times sneered, breezing past the fact that Zelensky did take Rogin’s question seriously.
The Ukrainian president advised the world to learn from its mistakes in Ukraine and take stronger pre-emptive diplomatic measures to stave off another attempted military conquest. The Global Times attacked Rogin for daring to presume Zelensky answered a direct question about China and Taiwan by referring to China and Taiwan.
The Chinese Communist paper argued Zelensky was actually criticizing America when he replied to Rogin’s question about Taiwan:
Rogin is apparently very familiar with using disinformation to create a sensation. He tweeted four times in a row about the article and retweeted it three times.
According to Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Zelensky, despite his lack of full knowledge of the Taiwan question, has managed to not fall into Rogin’s trap. “In contrast to Rogin’s understanding, Zelensky is tactfully criticizing the US and the West for constantly engaging in provocations before the war instead of giving Ukraine any substantial assistance,” said Lü.
With ill intentions, some US media outlets have taken any opportunity to link the discussion of the Ukraine crisis to the Taiwan question. They want to fake an impression that some other nations share a similar position with Washington on the Taiwan question. Only in this way can they justify the US’ upgraded provocative actions toward the Chinese mainland over the Taiwan question – and, therefore, continue with their reckless moves.
The Global Times eventually calmed itself down by reassuring itself that only “a few Taiwan media” joined the “smart-alecky U.S. propaganda machines” and “lie-spreaders serving the political interests of the White House” in reporting on Zelensky’s remarks.
Unfortunately for the Chinese propagandists, this is not remotely true, as the Washington Post column that sent them to the fainting couches observed in its concluding paragraph. Comparisons between Russia-Ukraine and China-Taiwan are being made around the globe:
Despite China’s determined efforts to deny that the Ukraine and Taiwan situations are linked, several Asian leaders at the Singapore conference said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a wake-up call for the region in terms of a possible Chinese attack on Taiwan. As Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said while addressing the conference Friday evening, “Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow.”
The New York Times (NYT) on Monday reported that Taiwan is carefully studying the tactics Ukraine employed to thwart the vastly more powerful Russian army, particularly Ukraine’s skillful use of small arms and inexpensive drones.
The Taiwanese are also growing concerned about troop quality, which has deteriorated across decades of waiting for Beijing to pull the trigger on an invasion. Previously soft training routines for Taiwan’s reservists are reportedly being upgraded to create a tougher, more determined force that could fight as hard as Ukraine’s defenders.
Taiwanese citizens told the NYT they saw the sudden and brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine as a wake-up call to hone their own civil defense skills, while the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen reportedly understands that its chief objective during an invasion will be denying Beijing the kind of lightning-fast decapitation victory Moscow sought.