TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Ukrainian lawmaker and leader of Ukraine’s Holos Party Kira Rudik revealed on Thursday (Jan. 26) that the Chinese embassy warned her nation not to accept aid from Taiwan.

“We have received an official note from the Chinese embassy about what we’re doing is wrong,” Rudik said, according to Formosa TV. She said her first impulse was to reply, “I haven’t seen any help (from China) coming in.”

“My main responsibility for Ukrainian people is to get as much help as possible…to save as many people from being frozen,” she said.

Taiwan has donated NT$30 million (US$975,943) to Kyiv to buy power generators. Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) signed a memorandum of understanding in December with Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, and Grygorii Malenko, executive director of the charitable fund Darnychany to make the donation happen.

So far, the capital city has received two batches of power generators bought with the funds to provide heat for its residents. “Heating is just as important as having running water. It’s very hard to survive when it is cold outside,” Rudik said.

The lawmaker said she was “surprised” at how well and organized interactions between the Taiwanese government and its people were when she visited Taiwan in October. Rudik said she spoke with the Ukrainian diaspora in Taiwan and they told her how quick and efficient the government is.

They also told her there is a sense that “the state cares about you,” she said.

Rudik said she was grateful her trip was not just one of friendship but one that resulted “in my people getting aid from Taiwan.” She said she would like to visit Taiwan again to demonstrate gratitude for Taiwan’s aid and to discuss opening a Ukrainian representative office in the country.

The endeavor will “take a lot of time and a lot of work,” she said, but “I think we need to keep it as a goal in our planning.”