TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has issued a statement to deny rumors that Russia will take steps to “punish” Taiwan for supporting Ukraine.
On Thursday (March 10), MOFA responded to “online rumors” by reiterating that the purpose behind Russia’s decision to announce a list of “unfriendly nations” is to protect the Russian financial market in the face of international sanctions. The decree allows the Russian state, its citizens, and companies to pay foreign creditors from the list in rubles.
International sanctions against Russia have caused the ruble to suffer a drop in value, rendering it unable to compete with strong currencies for settlement.
“Taiwan’s representative office in Russia has remained operational as usual and has not received reports about any severe disruption of everyday life or academic activities by business representatives, students, or other Taiwanese,” MOFA wrote. “MOFA will continue to closely monitor changes of circumstance within and outside of Russia, take relevant, appropriate, and effective actions in response, and provide explanations as appropriate.”
MOFA quoted a social media post as reading, “The great emperor Putin is about to teach Taiwan a lesson, China Airlines and EVA Air will be hit with heavy losses!”
Though the language used in the post tries hard to adopt Chinese sentence structures commonly used in Taiwan, the post’s forceful tone, marked by the repetition of terms such as “wantonly hype up” and “blatantly publicize,” reminds of statements commonly heard or seen in Chinese propaganda. The post also avoids any mention of the “Taiwan government.”
“‘Some things can only be done and not said.’ The government under the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wantonly hyped up and blatantly publicized Taiwan’s strong support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia,” the post read. “Reports from today alleged that Russia is planning to retaliate against Taiwan’s unfriendliness.”
According to the post, possible actions Russia might take to punish the country include closing Taiwan’s representative office in Moscow, seizing Russian bonds and stocks belonging to Taiwanese entities, and banning Taiwanese aircraft in Russian airspace.
“The blatant actions that voluntarily reveal hatred against Russia taken by the government under the DPP’s Tsai Ing-wen will bring unnecessary retaliation upon Taiwan,” the post read, a conclusion showing stark similarity to threats frequently spoken and published by the Chinese foreign ministry and Taiwan Affairs Office.
MOFA also quoted a headline by ETToday included in the post as reading, “With nothing to do, Taiwan government finds trouble and causes worry among citizens by blindly taking sides during Russia-Ukraine war; Taiwan included in Russia’s list of ‘unfriendly nations.’” The headline was edited on Friday morning (March 11), leaving only “Taiwan included in Russia’s list of ‘unfriendly nations.’”
