What The Taiwanese Think of The Russia-Ukraine War and China | Street Interview

When you hear about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, what other country comes to your mind that might be in a similar situation to Ukraine? There has been a lot of speculation from the Western media that Taiwan might be the next Ukraine, but is it? More importantly, how do ordinary Taiwanese people feel about the Russian invasion and what this could mean for the future of Taiwan given its uneasy relationship with China? Our Asian Boss reporter hit the streets of Taipei to find out.

We do not have any political affiliations and are neither left or right. The opinions expressed in this video are those of individual interviewees alone and do not reflect the views of ASIAN BOSS or the general Taiwanese population.

0:00 - Intro
1:32 - Reaction to Russia-Ukraine war
3:45 - Do you see Russia and China as allies?
4:33 - How likely do you think it is that China will help Russia in this war?
5:31 - Do you think it’s fair to compare Ukraine with Taiwan?
6:40 - Do you think China will try to unify Taiwan by force after observing Ukraine’s situation?
8:10 - What proportion of Taiwanese do you think support the Taiwan-China reunification?
10:27 - What do you think about the Chinese not being able to imagine China invading Taiwan by force in our latest Shanghai interview?
13:15 - What do you think the Chinese government is capable of?
14:15 - What countries do you think Taiwan could seek help from if China were to invade?
15:29 - Do you think Taiwan would be prepared for an invasion?
16:46 - Imagine your country was at war, how would you feel about that?

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[Mr.Nichan]

16:25 "If you asked the Ukrainian people a month ago, they wouldn't have been prepared either."
I'm not sure how true that is. Part of Russia's problem is that the lower intensity war started 8 years ago, so Ukraine has been militarizing and training (and fighting in actual war is a kind of training) since then, and they were concerned about Russia's military build-up on their border for about a year before the actual invasion, doing things like amassing lots of weapons from sympathetic countries. Thus, when added with some more specific things I've seen about Ukraine, I think they were about as ready for invasion as you could expect them to be. (I guess there are more extreme things they could have done, like building massive walls or premptively arming and/or evacuating everyone, and there certainly were plenty of people who, like me, were not expecting an invasion right up until it happened.)

[xwm]

I think they should ask the question "do you believe that US will help Taiwan defend militarily (actually sending troops)?"

[PuffySofty]

A lot of people don't know, including most younger Taiwanese, that the constitution of both PRC (China) and ROC (Taiwan) claims sovereignty over the whole "China", that is why the relationship is so complicated and unique.
From the ROC's constitution, there's the "Fallen Mainland" & "Free Taiwan" regions .
From Beijing's pov, there's the unclaimed Taiwan province.

[ShhhHhhhz]

thing is. ukraine is recognized as a country on all fronts, including russia. That includes on paper, diplomatic relationship with other countries, involvement in international organizations and its official status as a soviergh nation.
I feel that Taiwan always had this european mentality that america is always coming to save them so nothing will go wrong. Have they ever thought what if that is not true? What if Americans votes in a more conservative leader and says im sorry, things changed and we have our own problems to deal with. or... nope, not gonna ignite ww3 or a nuclear fallout

Remember there are no friends in politics, only mutual interest. The more Taiwanese drill these words in, the better the outlook for them if war ever breaks out

[seanwoo]

The most worrying thing is the growing gap between the new generation of mainlanders and Taiwanese. Hatred on the Internet has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Cross-strait exchanges are becoming less and less. A new generation of Mainlanders and Taiwanese faces a future full of uncertainty as their friendly predecessors depart. I hope the future is not war.

[johnmurkwater]

When asked about an outright conflict between China and Taiwan that guy who answered, "I would be disappointed." really summed up my feeling about war.
It's extremely disappointing that we haven't been able to figure out a better way of dealing with our conflict other than by using violence against one another. 😕 Worried for humanity.

[ApexCalibre]

“War seems like a thing of the past” Say that to the US and the Middle East

[duduhou]

The lady in pink describes that US acts like “mother” who protects her children. Literally an insult to the concept of Mother!

[reyli]

Lol US is like a mom to protect her child🤣🤣🤣 the most naive statement I encountered

[周达凯-ob]

It would be interesting to have interviews with people from the mainland who live in Taiwan and people from Taiwan who live in the mainland.

[GUCCI]

"If you visit the Mainland and bump into someone named Chen, and your name is Chen, can you tell if you're a Taiwanese Chen and he's a Mainland Chen? Impossible."

What this guy said hits hard. My father, also surnamed Chen, came from mainland in 1973 when he was 8 years old. His cousins, uncles, aunties are all still in mainland. When we visit, it feels like home. It does not feel like there is any difference between us. Though many of my friends who are from 2nd and 3rd generation above do not feel anything to mainland, for us we are like one people and one country.

I think many people of Russia-Ukraine may have similar circumstances like us considering their history. It must have been very hurtful being attacked by someone like your own people.

[malkavil]

The girl interviewed: Wars are a thing of the past.
Me: In the last 2 years there`s been more than 50 armed conflicts. +10 just right now, Some with casualities in the 100k.

[johntitor]

Personally I dont think the Ukraine-Russia conflict is a good comparison to the Taiwan Issue, since both Ukraine and Russia are sovereign states recognised by the UN (as well as the vast majority of its members), while the Republic of China (or Taiwan if you’d prefer) is unresolved Chinese civil war, where both governments (PRC and ROC)claims to be the legal government of China (the region including the mainland and the island of Taiwan), and, as of now, the PRC is more internationally recognised.

[lhan]

"War seems like a thing of the past", "I think Taiwanese enjoy rich information" --Said by the same person

[jesshan]

1:47 where the response translated as "I feel that having a war nowadays is really stressful" is incorrect. What she really said is "I feel that having a war nowadays is really a shock to me(訝異)"

[wisecanadianwoman]

Thanks for keeping us informed Asian Boss. It is always good to hear the different perspectives and so important for the rest of the world to know.

[bohu]

All of the people evaded a fundamental difference: Ukraine is a recognised sovereign state while a majority of the 190 some countries acknowledge Taiwan is part of China. That really makes the whole thing more complicated and sensitive.

[Skyscrapers]

This is really difficult interview for both Taiwanese civilians and the interviewer.

Good job Asian Boss and thanks for providing this.

[kenchen]

"USA is like a mom, caring for it's child." 🤯🤯 Jesus!!

If she only knew about Nord Stream 2, and what really pushed Ukraine Russia war to start.

Hell if she knew the "hand" behind ANY of the Middle Eastern wars or South American wars.

I'm honestly LMAO in sadness and disbelief!!!

[thegalaxyairsoft]

Re; Chinese citizens not believing China will invade Taiwan
I do believe they genuinely believe this. I have made many Chinese friends who all consider Taiwanese their brothers and sisters, and are extremely friendly and show nothing but love for them.
I do, however, share the Taiwanese belief that a war in the region is highly possible. At the end of the day, the interests of the government does not always align with the interest of the people, that's true regardless of if you're in China, the US, or many other places.
A war between the two countries will be nothing but a disappointment not just to Taiwanese citizens, but also to those of China.