If you don’t believe me, ask Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s president.
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 Hudson 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.
Across the Eurasian landmass, an axis of revisionist power is forming. The system of U.S.-led alliances is under attack daily from Beijing to Moscow and from Tehran to Pyongyang. To meet this challenge, America will need to rely on those partners and allies, who, as Ms. Tsai told us, are “committed to safeguarding our way of life.” The U.S. must identify common threats and lead coalitions—such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Aukus and the Quad—against them.
Ukraine and Taiwan are on the front lines of the global struggle between freedom and tyranny. Both face larger, wealthier opponents with huge militaries that threaten to extinguish their freedom. Both also depend on America for security. As Mr. Kishida’s and Ms. Tsai’s words suggest, the outcome of the war in Ukraine will shape how the U.S. is perceived far beyond the shores of Europe. Just as America’s feckless withdrawal from Afghanistan reinforced Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, so, too, the U.S. performance in Ukraine will affect Beijing’s calculations in the South Pacific.
America will struggle to keep the peace in Asia if it doesn’t win the war in Europe. In nearly every corner of the globe, partners and allies are watching the conflict before deciding on their own next steps. If the U.S. wins in Ukraine, it will instill confidence in its leadership and the future of the American-built alliance system. If it abandons the fight, however, Washington will encourage U.S. partners and allies the world over to hedge their bets. Mr. Kishida’s and Ms. Tsai’s condemnations of Russia and support for Ukraine aren’t mere morality plays. They are policies intended to strengthen their own countries’ security and that of America’s global alliances.
In this effort, the U.S. can draw on a vast reservoir of power: the bravery of democratic peoples fighting for their own survival. Sixty years after President Kennedy declared his solidarity with the people of Berlin, the front lines in the battle for freedom have shifted east. Today, the war in Ukraine is America’s fight and we must win it. If the U.S. loses its nerve, it will invite an even greater calamity in the Taiwan Strait.
Mr. Walters is president and CEO of the Hudson Institute.
Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8Appeared in the April 5, 2023, print edition as ‘Ukraine Is No Distraction From Asia’.