Opinion | How Ukraine invasion lessons are wrongly used to hype up China threat in Indo-Pacific
- For all the ink spilled on lessons from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, trying to apply those lessons to the whole region ignores its geopolitical diversity
- Even when assessing a possible invasion of Taiwan by China, it’s important to note Ukraine and Taiwan are not analogous
The tragedy of the war in Ukraine has elicited a plethora of opinion pieces trying to divine lessons learned for the Indo-Pacific. Some of them make sense, but others reflect fuzzy or wishful thinking.
Those lessons that do make sense are rather general and obvious. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shows that Europe and the world cannot afford to “lose sight of geopolitical realities and of the possibility that regional conflicts may escalate”. It also is a reminder that “global peace and stability are fragile” and that war remains a distinct possibility.
Another supposed lesson is that any nation contemplating similar aggression must first reduce its economic dependence on others. Similarly sweeping sanctions on a country like China, for instance, are unlikely to be as effective because of the size of its economy and more diverse web of economic relations.
