From the vantage point of the eastern reaches of Asia, Taiwan is intently watching developments in Israel.
The island democracy has condemned the attack by Hamas. Its president, Tsai Ing-wen, said that Taiwan was ‘committed to working with like-minded countries to fight threats and violence and to safeguard freedom and democracy’.
Taiwan’s government has also convened a study group to keep track of the situation and to draw lessons from it. Minister of Defence, Chiu Kuo-cheng, remarked that the conflagration ‘blew up so suddenly’, and underlined the need to be able to understand possible threats.
Chiu said: ‘The initial (lesson) is that intelligence work is very important. With intelligence, many countermeasures can be made. A war can even be avoided’.
The week’s events highlighted the horrors of war, and the necessity of keeping the military in a combat-worthy state.
Taiwan has said it is in contact with over 130 of its citizens in Israel at present.
Threats from China have long been a reality for Taiwan, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has graphically illustrated the real possibility of a hot war. Much the same has been the case with Hamas’ attack on Israel.