Fleeing the war last May, the young Ukrainian Anna Fursyk, 20, certainly did not think that she would end up getting closer to it so quickly, elsewhere in the world, by finding refuge in Taiwan.
The Asian territory also faces the threat of an invasion, Chinese, which is now becoming less and less hypothetical.
“It’s a road whose layout may seem a little surprising”, admits with a smile the young girl from Lviv, Ukraine, met by The duty on the premises of Tunghai University, in Taichung, in the center of the island, where, for the past few weeks, she has been studying Chinese. “No one wants to leave one war to find themselves in the middle of another. But what Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has taught us is that war remains impossible to predict. If it has to happen, it will happen, and you can’t leave your path simply because of uncertainty, ”she says, philosopher, in impeccable French.
Moving away from an ongoing invasion to experience an approaching invasion. Fate is indeed far from trivial for the handful of Ukrainian refugees who are trying to rebuild their lives or find a moment of respite in Taiwan. Since February 24, the date of the outbreak of Russian aggression in Ukraine, the Asian island has attracted the attention of the world by now posing as the next possible victim of authoritarianism and associated belligerent ideologies.
This is because China is contesting its sovereignty and claiming ownership of this autonomous territory, founded in 1949 by the government of Chiang Kai-shek after the victory of the communists during the Chinese civil war. Since the beginning of the 1990s, Taiwan has become a prosperous democracy that the authoritarian regime of Xi Jinping aspires to subdue and bring back into the fold of mainland China, and this, by also bringing closer the prospect of a coup de force to achieve its purposes.
“I try not to think about a war here,” drops the young Yehor, 17, still scarred by the violence of the Russian invasion launched against Ukraine six months ago. The takeover of the southern city of Kherson by Kremlin forces forced him to hide for weeks in the basement of his family’s residence and then bypass combat zones to flee and join family settled in Taiwan. “For now, I only hope the growing ties between Taiwan and the United States will prevent conflict and invasion here,” he said, sitting in a quiet park in the center of the capital, Taipei.
To date, between 10 and 20 Ukrainians have found refuge in Taiwan, marking the beginning of a timid tightening of ties between the European country and the Asian territory, which the Russian invasion has finally helped to bring closer.
new intimacy
“There were no diplomatic relations between Kyiv and Taipei, but things are changing. The war has changed perceptions on both sides,” notes Alex Khomenko, an American from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv who has lived and worked in technology in Taiwan for several years. The man helps in welcoming Ukrainian refugees. He also participated in the weekly anti-war demonstrations that were held in the first weeks of the invasion outside the office of the Russian Trade Agency in Taipei’s financial district.
“The parallels between Taiwan and Ukraine are easy to draw,” he continues. And that necessarily created an intimacy between the two peoples, an intimacy that is likely to be lasting. »
A recent campaign launched by the collective Taiwan Supports Ukraine has raised no less than 500,000 US dollars through the sale, among other things, of face coverings, very popular in Asia and not only in pandemic times, which display Taiwanese solidarity towards Ukraine.
After sending eight million as a donation to kyiv the day after the outbreak of war, the Taiwanese government has just extended its contribution with a batch of 800 Revolver 860 short-range bomber drones, to support the defense of the former Soviet republic. against Russian aggression.
Ukraine, including under the presidency of Volodymyr Zelensky, has however never displayed an attachment, a support and even less a strong recognition in Taiwan so as not to offend its new Chinese ally, whose massive investments have contributed to the economic growth of the former Soviet republic.
“We were welcomed with open arms here, where the war in Ukraine remains a constant topic of conversation with the Taiwanese we meet,” says Anna Fursyk. She admits that she came to Taiwan to seek a Chinese environment to perfect her learning of the language without being obliged to go to China, whose proximity to Russia on the world stage now bothers her deeply. “Like the Ukrainians before the war, the Taiwanese try not to believe in the possibility of war on their territory. We didn’t believe it either. How does a war in Europe, in the XXIe century, in a country so close to the European Union and Western values, could it be possible? And this reality now upsets our interlocutors here. »
At his side, Markiian Pidkovych, 19, who also came from Lviv to study Chinese in Taiwan, tries not to think too much about the worst-case scenarios that increasingly animate conversations on the island threatened by overflowing hegemonic inclinations. from China. “We hope that nothing dramatic will happen. But, as Ukrainians, we are unfortunately mentally prepared to face war. »
Between fear and hope
“The threat of a Chinese military intervention is increasingly felt, it is true, recognizes in an interview from its offices in Taipei the director of the Taiwanese section of Amnesty International, Eeling Chiu. But until now, we still benefit from our autonomy, and our self-determination which always places us, despite the circumstances, in an acceptable security context. This is what makes us able to welcome Ukrainian refugees and still remain a safe place for others in the region and around the world. »
And she adds: “If China decides to invade Taiwan, it will have to take into account the consequences and the Russian experience in Ukraine. And that, in my opinion, is what risks dissuading her from making Taiwan the next Ukraine. »
Long before being forced to witness a new war 8000 km from home, Yehor hopes above all to witness, from his new place of residence, the defeat of Russia on the Ukrainian battlefield. “All I want is to get back to my old life,” says the young man, who aspires to study literature in Taiwan while waiting for a final period consecrating the victory of his country to be placed on the ongoing assault. “Ukraine will remain an independent country and, above all, be a stronger country after going through a destructive war unprecedented in Europe in the modern era. »
Markiian Pidkovych, he hopes to be able to return for the Christmas holidays this year, in a country whose “south and east will have been rid of the Russian occupation forces”, he says, but he admits in the process that ” the war may take a long time to end”. “Russia will never stop, because it is a terrorist state. And unfortunately, it is our direct neighbor. »
With Alisa Chih Yun Chen
This report was financed thanks to the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund.The duty.