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While the world’s eyes are on Ukraine, a new and perhaps even more dangerous conflict is brewing in Asia.
China threatens to invade Taiwan if the country does not voluntarily agree to become part of China.
Aftonbladet’s Wolfgang Hansson and Jerker Ivarsson have visited the island, vital to the world economy, to find out how Taiwanese perceive and try to face the threat of invasion.
Here are nine reports on the silent war that you may have missed.
Taiwan’s Move: “Freedom Pineapple”
CHIAYI-KAOHSIUNG, TAIWAN. Feelings of panic washed over pineapple grower Ying Yan Chen when he received the news.
– That China decided overnight to stop imports came as a shock. I didn’t know how we were going to handle it.
Since then, China has come up with one import ban after another to sabotage Taiwan’s economy and punish the Taiwanese.
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Ready to fire on China’s plane: “Glory”
TAINAN AIR BASE, TAIWAN. Guo Wenjing often smiles. She makes a low-key and shy impression.
But appearances are deceiving.
She spends her days defending Taiwan’s airspace from a cramped cockpit 10,000 meters up in the air.
– If I get the order, I don’t hesitate to shoot down a Chinese fighter jet, she says, flashing another gentle smile.
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Without the factory, everything stops: “Disaster if China invades”
HSINCHU, TAIWAN. A flower bed with plants and a mini forest of green trees surrounds the entrance.
Behind the inconspicuous entrance and the white-gray windowless facade hides the world’s most important factory where almost all of the most advanced microchips in the world are produced.
– If the factory were to be destroyed in a Chinese invasion, it would be a disaster for the world economy, says Chih-Huang Lai, deputy rector at Tsinghua University in Hsinchu.
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He turns Chinese grenades into kitchen knives
KINMEN, TAIWAN. Entering Maestro Wu’s workshop is like stepping into the 50s. Full of old, worn out machines and at one end a large brick oven with an open fire burning.
Here, the blacksmith makes kitchen knives from rusty Chinese artillery shells from a bygone war.
Not far from here are the landing barriers along the island’s shores, another reminder that armed conflict between China and Taiwan is a constant threat.
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Here, civilians train to survive a Chinese invasion
TAIPEI, TAIWAN. Yvonne Chu, 45, has to lie down on the grey-speckled carpet.
Two other women must lift her with their combined strength and carry her away.
They are some of the 40 participants in today’s self-defense course with the goal of training ordinary residents on how to act in the event of a Chinese invasion.
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The minister on the invasion threat: “Trying to scare us”
TAIPEI, TAIWAN. Taiwan could become a new Ukraine.
Roy Chun Lee sees no signs of an imminent invasion of China. But fear that an attack could become a reality in the future if the outside world does not succeed in deterring Xi Jinping.
– So far, it is more cost-effective for China to keep the war in a gray area, says Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister.
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So China is trying to erase Taiwan from the map
TAIPEI, TAIWAN. Anyone who goes to the SAS website to book a flight to Taipei in Taiwan will bet. In the SAS booking system it says Taipei, China. SAS and other airlines have bought the Chinese dictatorship’s description of reality.
That’s why more than half of the flagpoles in front of the grand building in one of Taipei’s most affluent neighborhoods are empty.
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The tactic to save Taiwan: “Hedgehog strategy”
TAIPEI, TAIWAN. The country’s former defense chief looks a little troubled as he salutes with his left hand.
– Tennis elbow from too much golf, he excuses himself.
A pastime in frustration that he doesn’t think the country is adequately preparing for what he sees as inevitable; a Chinese invasion.
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He spent five years in a Chinese prison: “Pure hell”
TAIPEI, TAIWAN. Despite being a free man for over a year, Lee Ming-che still enjoys every day in freedom. Like now when he can sit in peace and quiet in a cafe in central Taipei and sip a fruit drink.
Although at the same time it means that he is forced to relive horrible memories from five years in a Chinese prison.
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FACT The silent war
While the world’s eyes are on Ukraine, a new and perhaps even more dangerous conflict is brewing in Asia.
Taiwan could become the next Ukraine.
The giant China threatens to invade Taiwan if the country does not voluntarily agree to become part of China.
US President Joe Biden has repeatedly promised to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.
The risk is obvious of a direct war between the superpower USA and its main challenger China. Both nuclear powers.
Aftonbladet’s Wolfgang Hansson (text) and Jerker Ivarsson (photo) have visited the island, vital to the world economy, to find out how Taiwanese perceive and try to face the threat of invasion.
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