TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China’s threat to Taiwan is reminiscent of Czechoslovakia facing Nazi Germany in 1938, Taiwan Deputy Foreign Minister Wu Chih-chung (吳志中) said in an interview published Thursday.
Speaking to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Wu compared China’s desire to seize Taiwan and dominate its semiconductor production to Nazi Germany’s ambitions in Czechoslovakia, then the fifth-largest industrial power in Europe.
Wu argued that by highlighting the danger China poses, Taiwan could help prevent an "Asian version of the Munich Agreement." He warned that appeasing Beijing would not lead to peace. “If Taiwan remains part of the free world, the world is safe. Otherwise, we will be heading toward a global conflict.”
He noted that China initially claimed the Pacific Ocean was large enough for two superpowers, then expanded its rhetoric to say the entire world could accommodate two powers. Meanwhile, it continues territorial disputes, claiming the Diaoyu Islands, clashing with Philippine fishing and military vessels, and engaging in border skirmishes with India.
“Let's not forget what [China] did in Hong Kong, tearing up the treaty it had agreed to,” Wu said. He stressed that Taiwan does not want to follow the same path.
“We want to defend ourselves. We're an island, and the costs of an invasion for China would be enormous.”
