Besieged by Communist China, Taiwan’s Leaders See an Ally and Fellow Sufferer in Israel

At a time of mounting international criticism, Israel can take comfort from a special friend on the periphery of Communist China – namely Free China, the independent island democracy of Taiwan.Confronting historic enemies and under constant threat, the two share common cause within “similar geopolitical environments,” Taiwan’s foreign minister, Lin Chia-lung, said at theTaiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club at Taipei on Wednesday.Mr. Lin’s remarks confirmed the mounting impression that Israel, surrounded by Arab states that automatically support the Palestinians on the West Bank and Gaza, has tightened its bond with Taiwan even though they have no formal diplomatic relations.The inference was plain: Palestinian sympathy for China’s oft-stated vow to eventually take over Taiwan is driving Taiwan closer to Israel. Taiwan and Israel, he said, “share an interest in combining security and technology.”The Palestinian leadership “has consistently upheld Beijing’s ‘one-China principle,’” the Taiwan News quoted Mr. Lin as saying. The Palestinians, he charged, have been“very bad to Taiwan” while Arab states are aligned against the self-governing territory.In earlier remarks, the president of Taiwan, Lai Ching-te, invoked a reference from the Old Testament when he compared his Republic of China’s brave stand against Beijing to the battle of David against Goliath.Mr. Lai chose a receptive audience for that comparison – the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee – at a dinner last month in Taipei. He did not have to refer directly to Israel’s struggle against terrorism and antisemitism to make the point that Taiwan, like Israel, faces implacable foes.Like America and Israel, he said, Taiwan relies on “peace through strength” for survival.Taiwan will not only “boost defense spending,” the Taipei Times quoted him as saying, but will “build a T-Dome system” — an iron Taiwan Dome modeled after Israel’s Iron Dome and the U.S. Golden Dome — to defend against any attack by the mainland’s marauding planes and ships.Mr. Lai said he sees “the Jewish people” — not only in Israel but in America and elsewhere — as setting an example for the Taiwanese “when facing challenges to our international standing and threats to our sovereignty from China.”Israel “provides a valuable model for Taiwan,” he said. “Taiwan needs to channel the spirit of David against Goliath in standing up to authoritarian coercion.”While emulating Israel’s approach on defense, Taiwan is also building up a brisk two-way trade with Israel. In 2023, exports from Taiwan to Israel in mostly electronic products totaled $1.23 billion while imports from Israel were almost the same — $1.21 billion.Taiwan and Israel are represented in each other’s capitals by “economic and cultural offices” that are de facto embassies similar to the Taiwan and American “institutes” at Washington and Taipei. Both Israel and America support Taiwan as a self-governing entity while formally recognizing the Communist Chinese regime in Beijing as entitled to rule all of China.The American-Taiwan-Israel relationship has its foundations in the rivalry between America and its communist foes, as well as American support for the establishment and rise of the state of Israel. “The roots of Taiwan’s ties with Israel are long and tangled,” writes a Taiwan-based journalist, James Baron, for the Global Taiwan Institute. “At crucial stages in the development of both states,” he notes, “Israel and the Republic of China (ROC) regime were both cultivated by American support during the Cold War as anti-communist states.”

Besieged by Communist China, Taiwan’s Leaders See an Ally and Fellow Sufferer in Israel

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