By Safon Liu, International Affairs Department of TEEMA
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on February 24 with the purpose to make demilitarization, de-Nazification , peace maintenance in Ukraine. In the eve of battle burst, Russian Federation acknowledged the independence of both new republics from Ukraine: Lugansk narodnaya respublika and Donetskaya narodnaya respublika.
Russian military invasion to Ukraine concerned by a whole people all over the world has been continuing over a month. The closed-door forum themed as “ Ukrainian war and Future of European Security” was held by College of Social Science, National Taiwan University on 31st March, 2022. The keynote speaker was Mr. Filip Grzegorzewski, Head of European Economic and Trade Office sharing his point view of European security after the burst of Russo-Ukrainian war. European Union members unanimously condemned Russian aggression, more than 500 million European citizens pray for Ukraine, and nearly 4 million Ukrainian refugees have escaped from their hometown. In addition, European security must stabilize not only on the geopolitical sphere but on economic system, especially energy supply, said by Mr. Grzegorzewski. The product supply chain of European industry to Russia must be reviewed by each item. TEEMA Chairman Richard Lee stated that Taiwan electronic companies set the manufacturing hubs in the Czech Republic of eastern Europe and gradually expand to the territory of Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and other countries. With this opportunity, Taiwan manufacturers can strengthen close cooperation with European enterprises.
Taiwan's government condemned Russia for undermining Ukraine's sovereignty and calls for peaceful means to resolve disputes, President Tsai Ing-wen said on February 23, 2022. Meanwhile, Taiwan-Russian current trade relation can be strictly reviewed in accordance with the "Wassenaar Arrangement", stated by Minister Mei-Hua Wang of Ministry of Economic Affairs. In the past 20 years, TEEMA has been assisting its member companies to export goods to Russia. Now they face a plenty of difficulties and troubles with bilateral trade. We expect our government offers the guideline and policies to help our member companies and stand with them together.
