Taiwan is not Ukraine and their fates should not be linked together. That was what Stanford University Political Scientist Kharis Templeman said in a recent RTI interview about the Ukraine War and its impact on Taiwan. Templeman is the director of the Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific at Stanford’s Hoover Institute.
Templeman said that the US relationship with Ukraine and Taiwan is vastly different. The US has been providing for Taiwan’s security since 1950. Taiwan is also its 9th biggest trading partner and the manufacturer of high end semiconductors, which gives it a key role in the global supply chain.
As to how the Ukraine War might affect Taiwan, he said that the United States and its democratic allies could grow more united in their efforts to counter and deter China from attacking Taiwan.
Templeman also said that he hopes to see the US and Taiwan continue to build stronger ties and would like to see the US and Taiwan sign a free trade agreement.