Russia, China launch info attack on Taiwan during FM’s Warsaw visit

For anyone who follows international markets or politics even a little, it’s obvious: the biggest buyers of Russian oil are China and India. Europe also imports significant amounts. So how could tiny Taiwan be purchasing “record volumes”?

Yet journalists reprinting this sensational claim don’t even attempt to verify the information.

"The problem lies in a substitution of terms. This is not about oil, but about naphtha – a derivative product used in semiconductor production. Due to the linguistic similarity between the words, it’s easy to confuse them, and this is exactly what Russian and Chinese propaganda exploit."

The timing is also important. Right now, as Taiwan’s Foreign Minister is in Warsaw at an international forum openly declaring unconditional support for Ukraine, a “news” story appears designed to create the opposite impression: as if Taiwan is not with us, but with Russia.

In reality, information about Taiwan’s purchase of oil derivatives for microchips is routine and recurring. Open Bloomberg, and you’ll see it’s standard practice. But this is completely different from a “record purchase of Russian oil.”

This is how half-truths turn into weapons — and this is exactly how information warfare works.

Here’s a screenshot of one of today’s publications and a screenshot of last year’s Bloomberg article on the same topic. And yes, it’s been going on for a long time.

Although I believe that Taiwan should also refrain from using these derivatives, we should finally open a trade office in Taipei and stop blocking cooperation with Taiwan.

Source

About the author. Mykola Kniazhytskyi, journalist, Member of the Ukrainian Parliament.

The editorial team does not always share the opinions expressed by blog or column authors.