Taiwan will assist Ukraine to rebuild its war-torn infrastructure, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said in an interview with Espreso TV.
He reiterated that the Taiwanese people and Taiwanese government support Ukraine and condemn Russia’s aggression against Ukraine:
“We feel that it is not right for any country to invade another one. And like Russia, to engage in atrocities against another sovereign country. Therefore, our government joined international sanctions and also issued very strong condemnations against Russia,” Joseph Wu said.
The diplomat reminded that right after the war started, Taiwan had sent Ukraine a 27 tonne batch of medicines. Moreover the Taiwanese people said they wanted to provide donations, so they urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to set up a donation account, and within a month the ministry collected about USD 33 mln to help Ukraine.
“Moreover people said they wanted to provide material support, so we opened up the doors of Foreign Ministry to accept material donations. At the end we provided 562 tonnes of humanitarian assistance to send to Ukraine. We did this not because we are asking for anything in return, but because we think it was the right thing to do, seeing the atrocities of the war,” he said.
The Taiwanese government is planning more aid for Ukraine in 2023 and calls on partners to cooperate in supporting Ukraine amid ongoing invasion and help to restore the country’s infrastructure:
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also coming up with a budget of USD 56 mln for the next year. We intend to support schools, hospitals, churches in Ukraine as well as to work together, as with like minded partners like Lithuania, Slovakia, The Czech Republic, Poland to help the rebuilding process,” Joseph Wu said.
The minister also said he was pleased to notice that Ukraine-Taiwan relations are now being brought to a new level:
“Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada started to talk about forming the Taiwan Friendship Group, and they held a conference with our parliamentarians. I think this is a very natural development. Any kind of reaching out for friendship to the Taiwanese people will always be highly welcome. At the time we’ll continue to discuss among ourselves what we can do to provide additional support for Ukraine,” he added.