Hot war

With the world divided on being for or against Israel or Hamas, Chinese academic Zhang Tiankan looks at why the weak are not necessarily in the right during a conflict against the strong, as some would assert.

The emerging war fatigue and the twin crises in Ukraine and Gaza have analysts weighing up the implications for Taiwan. Ultimately, the US can afford Ukraine’s failure or even let the conflict in the Middle East continue, but it will do everything possible to keep Taiwan separate from China, says US academic Zhu Zhiqun.

A week after the war between Israel and Hamas broke out, China has openly criticised Israel, saying that its actions “have gone beyond self-defence”. China may be worried about the larger implications of war breaking out in the Middle East, says an academic that Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Edwin Ong spoke to.

In the absence of a solution to the Palestinian issue, the Palestine-Israel peace process will be at a stalemate, unless Israel is able to completely destroy Hamas and other Palestinian anti-Israel forces. In the short term, Israel’s stance on Palestine, especially the Gaza Strip, is likely to harden, says Chinese academic Fan Hongda.

China has drawn international flak for not expressing a stronger stance on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, when just a few months ago, it was lauded for helping to ease tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. While it is a key player in the region, China could easily fall back into its “balanced vagueness” foreign policy approach, says academic Alessandro Arduino.

The conflict between Israel and Palestine is a longstanding one that has been renewed following a surprise attack by Hamas on Israel, triggering retaliation and a declaration of war by Israel. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Yang Danxu notes that an important player in the situation is China, following its efforts in the Middle East. Could this be the middle ground for China to cooperate with the US amid their strained relations?

Chinese academic Chu Zhaogen notes that while Russia tends to threaten the use of nuclear weapons, especially amid the current war in Ukraine, chances are that it is well aware that doing so would invite unwelcome and devastating consequences. This makes it unlikely that it will actually act on its rhetoric.

During a recent geopolitics conference in Taipei, experts weighed in on the Taiwan Strait situation, assessing that political factors are more likely than military factors to trigger a war. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Miao Zong-Han tells us more about what the experts said.

General Bai Chongxi was a war hero in the war against Japan, who taught his children to love their country and their roots. His fifth child Bai Xianyong would grow up to be a well-known writer, while eldest son Bai Xiandao would inherit his father’s looks — and a photo album, later acquired by photograph collector Zou Dehuai, who shares some of the images within.