Boris Pistorius
“Russia is already producing weapons and ammunition beyond its need for conducting an aggressive war against Ukraine. With increased spending on armaments and the streamlining of the military economy, a significant portion or part of what is produced no longer goes to the front line, but ends up in warehouses. Now you can be naive and say he's doing it just out of caution. As a sceptical person, I would say in this case that he's doing it because he has plans or could have them.”
2 hours ago
Emmanuel Macron
“There is a risk our Europe could die. We are not equipped to face the risks. Russia must not be allowed to win in Ukraine. Europeans should give preference to buying European military equipment. We must produce more, we must produce faster, and we must produce as Europeans.”
2 hours ago
Aleksey Kushch
“By including the Ukraine package in a bill that also provides military aid to Israel and Taiwan, the US shows the world that it equals Ukraine's and Israel's archenemies - Russia and Iran. This is a mighty geopolitical slap for China. As the trade turnover between Russia and China rose to $240bn last year, the more the US pushes Beijing, the more discounts for oil and gas China gets from Russia.”
3 hours ago
Nikolay Mitrokhin
“The aid is a surprisingly exact match of Ukrainian military's needs that mostly has a deficit of air defence weaponry of all kinds and also needs to replenish its arsenal of tank destroyers, anti-infantry landmines and other kinds of ammunition. It's obviously needed to deliver infantry and other ground troops to the front line but not for an advance - otherwise the US would have given tanks.”
3 hours ago
Ihor Romanenko
“The aid can improve the situation on the 1,000km-long (620-mile-long) front line. But the aid looks like a handout to show that we haven't been forgotten, no more than that. They're always late, they hit the brakes, they're afraid. All of that is done to catch up [with Russia], but wars are won by those who act ahead of time.”
3 hours ago
Boris Pistorius
“Russia is already producing weapons and ammunition beyond its need for conducting an aggressive war against Ukraine. With increased spending on armaments and the streamlining of the military economy, a significant portion or part of what is produced no longer goes to the front line, but ends up in warehouses. Now you can be naive and say he's doing it just out of caution. As a sceptical person, I would say in this case that he's doing it because he has plans or could have them.”
2 hours ago
Emmanuel Macron
“There is a risk our Europe could die. We are not equipped to face the risks. Russia must not be allowed to win in Ukraine. Europeans should give preference to buying European military equipment. We must produce more, we must produce faster, and we must produce as Europeans.”
2 hours ago
Aleksey Kushch
“By including the Ukraine package in a bill that also provides military aid to Israel and Taiwan, the US shows the world that it equals Ukraine's and Israel's archenemies - Russia and Iran. This is a mighty geopolitical slap for China. As the trade turnover between Russia and China rose to $240bn last year, the more the US pushes Beijing, the more discounts for oil and gas China gets from Russia.”
3 hours ago
Nikolay Mitrokhin
“The aid is a surprisingly exact match of Ukrainian military's needs that mostly has a deficit of air defence weaponry of all kinds and also needs to replenish its arsenal of tank destroyers, anti-infantry landmines and other kinds of ammunition. It's obviously needed to deliver infantry and other ground troops to the front line but not for an advance - otherwise the US would have given tanks.”
3 hours ago
Ihor Romanenko
“The aid can improve the situation on the 1,000km-long (620-mile-long) front line. But the aid looks like a handout to show that we haven't been forgotten, no more than that. They're always late, they hit the brakes, they're afraid. All of that is done to catch up [with Russia], but wars are won by those who act ahead of time.”
3 hours ago
“The foreign ministry and embassy grasped the relevant information and handled it carefully. However, the Castro government also asked us for billions of dollars in huge economic assistance and compared prices for assistance programmes provided by Taiwan and China. The Honduran foreign minister wrote to Taiwan on March 13, the day before Castro's original announcement, demanding a total of $2.45bn in aid, including the construction of a hospital and a dam and debt forgiveness. It felt like what they wanted was money, not a hospital.”
“The marks of Chinese involvement are very obvious. But Taiwan will not engage in dollar diplomacy with China. We've entered a very difficult phase. But we'll work hard until the last minute.”
“China has used the drills and its military playbook to prepare for the invasion of Taiwan. After the drills conclude, China may try to routinise its action in an attempt to wreck the long-term status quo across the Taiwan Strait.”
“The large-scale exercise by the Chinese military showed China's military threat is more serious than ever. But there's no way Taiwan will cave in and surrender its sovereignty and democracy to the big bully. Not a chance!”
“Taiwanese are ready and prepared to defend themselves. Give us something for us to defend ourselves. And speak out in support for Taiwan so that we feel that we are not alone in fighting for ourselves. There's a growing awareness in the international community to care about the situation Taiwan is in. They know that if there's going to be a war in Taiwan, it's going to be a disaster for the rest of the world.”
“When democratic countries were holding a democratic summit, China was excluded, China was a target, so China chose this opportunity to set about targeting our diplomatic allies. Losing a diplomatic ally is a very painful thing for us.”
“I've received countless notes of congratulations after being blacklisted and sanctioned, for life, by the CCP [Chinese Communist Party]. Many are jealous for not being recognized; some ask where they can apply for it. To deserve the rare honor, I'll keep fighting for Taiwan's freedom and democracy.”
“Whenever Taiwan is gaining something, or having a new friendship, or being able to do something on the international stage, the Chinese would think that they are losing and they want to cut back on Taiwan's international participation. So, in that sense, it's a very direct competition between Taiwan and China on the international stage. What China wants to do is to make sure that Taiwan is dangling out in the international community alone - no friends, no support. But, of course, as minister of foreign affairs my responsibility is to make sure that Taiwan has friends out there.”
“If you think that you are dependent on China, your foreign policy may become skewed. If you think that you depend on China, your actions, or your policies, your behaviors need to be [cautious] because you don't want to jeopardize your business opportunities. [China] uses corrupt practices - [they] put money in the pocket of corrupted politicians [and] they promise quite a lot, but what they actually deliver may be limited. The projects they engage in are sometimes very shoddy. So if you put all this together, I think it's going to be a very good lesson for any country, for anyone who wants to do serious business with China.”
“If you look at those countries that are receiving the Chinese vaccines, whether it's Brazil or Chile or El Salvador, I think it's having lots of impact on our diplomatic allies. In Paraguay, the Chinese government was very active in saying to the public that if Paraguay severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan they would get millions of doses of China's vaccines, which put pressure on Taiwan to help. In the last few weeks, we have been speaking to like-minded countries, including Japan, the United States, India etcetera, and India fortunately has been able to provide some COVAXIN vaccines to Paraguay. The most important trend is the Indian government who is willing to help, and the United States who has decided they want to help, and I think this is going to relieve a lot of pressure for a lot of countries.”
“Since President Biden's administration took office on Jan. 20, we have seen that relations between Taiwan and the U.S. have not only continued uninterrupted but, as the U.S. has described, are rock solid.”
“This dangerous provocation by autocratic #China highlights the threats faced by democratic #Taiwan on the front line. But we aren't interested in caving in. Such actions won't stop us from being a force for good in the world & reliable partner of like-minded countries.”
“Taiwan-US relations have been elevated to a global partnership. The foreign ministry will not let our guard down and hope to continue to boost the development of Taiwan-US ties.”
“I'm grateful to @SecPompeo [Mike Pompeo] & @StateDept [US State Department] for lifting restrictions unnecessarily limiting our engagements these past years. I'm also thankful for strong bipartisan support in Congress for the #Taiwan Assurance Act, which advocates a review of prior guidelines. The closer partnership between #Taiwan & the #US is firmly based on our shared values, common interests & unshakeable belief in freedom & democracy. We'll continue working in the months & years ahead to ensure Taiwan is & continues to be a force for good in the world.”
“I think bipartisan support on Capitol Hill is still very strong, and I think that kind of support for a Taiwan-US BTA [Bilateral Trade Agreement] will continue into the new administration.”
“While many countries have been occupied fighting COVID-19, authoritarian regimes have used the opportunity to impose their will on religious minorities. We have seen Muslims in Xinjiang undergoing unspeakable horrors, including displacement, physical abuse, and emotional torture.”
“We are not seeking full diplomatic relations with the United States at this moment. But, certainly, there’s a lot of room for us to explore how to strengthen the relations between Taiwan and the United States, and we have been advocating that Taiwan and the United States should further strengthen economic relations, trade relations, political relations, even security relations.”