For those concerned about peace in the Asia-Pacific region, Ukraine is, as one Japanese newspaper commentary puts it, "not a fire on the opposite shore". Not least, Asia also has a small democracy bang next to a big bully. China has long claimed Taiwan as its own, uses its armed forces to intimidate it and reserves the right to invade.

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recently warned: "If we tolerate the use of force to change the status quo, it will have an impact on Asia as well." He was implying that the aggression of Russia's President Vladimir Putin towards Ukraine could embolden his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping regarding Taiwan.