UK sees danger for Taiwan if West fails to support Ukraine

LONDON • British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that if Western nations failed to fulfil their promises to support Ukraine's independence, it would have damaging consequences worldwide, including for Taiwan.

Russian troops are massed near Ukraine's borders and President Vladimir Putin has launched exercises by strategic nuclear missile forces, but Russia rejects Western concerns that it is poised to invade.

"We do not fully know what President Putin intends, but the omens are grim," Mr Johnson told a security conference in Munich yesterday.

"If Ukraine is endangered, the shock will echo around the world. And those echoes will be heard in East Asia, will be heard in Taiwan," he added.

"People would draw the conclusion that aggression pays, and that might is right."

China views Taiwan as a renegade province, and has not ruled out the use of force to regain control of the island, which has governed itself since 1949.

Leaders at the Munich Security Conference said yesterday that they wanted to continue dialogue with Russia, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying there were clear indications Russia was still open to diplomacy.

They received some support from Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, whose country has close ties with Russia, when he told the conference no country should seek to replace international norms with its own will.

Mr Scholz said Mr Putin was wrong to seek justification for revising borders in history. "If you go back far enough in the history books, you can find grounds for wars that last a few hundred years and destroy our entire continent," Mr Scholz said at the conference.

Also at the event, United States Vice-President Kamala Harris said her country would reinforce Nato's eastern flank to act as a further deterrent to any Russian military action, in addition to the threat of sanctions.

"National borders should not be changed by force," Ms Harris said.

"We have prepared economic measures that will be swift, severe, and united," she added.

Germany's foreign minister, however, warned against trying to guess or assume Russia's decisions on Ukraine.

"In crisis situations, the most inappropriate thing to do is to somehow guess or assume," said Ms Annalena Baerbock, in response to a question on whether she shared Mr Biden's assessment that Mr Putin has decided on an invasion.

"My urgent appeal to all is that we look closely at the facts on the ground", Ms Baerbock said, warning against the risk of "targeted disinformation".

"We do not know yet if an attack has been decided on," the German minister said, adding that the "threat against Ukraine is very real".

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE