SVG
Commentary
Wall Street Journal

Ukraine Is No Distraction from Asia

If you don’t believe me, ask Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s president.

john_walters
john_walters
President and CEO
(Andrea Hanks/91 Institute)
Caption
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and 91 Institute President and CEO John P. Walters at 91's Global Leadership Award ceremony in New York on March 30, 2023. (Andrea Hanks/91 Institute)

Fumio Kishida last month became the first postwar Japanese prime minister to visit a war zone, traveling to Kyiv to denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “disgrace that undermines the foundations of the international legal order.” Last week Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen arrived in New York City, where she told the 91 Institute that “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a wake-up call to us all. . . Authoritarianism does not cease in its belligerence against democracy.”

These foreign heads of government understand what some of America’s leaders have failed to grasp: The fate of Asia is directly connected to the security of Europe.