A Taiwanese Man Who Volunteered to Fight in Ukraine-Russia War Has Died

Last Updated on 2022-11-12 , 3:15 pm

The Russia-Ukraine War has been going on forever since Russian President Vladmir Putin announced a “special military operation” that allows Russia to basically invade Ukraine. 

While there were huge amounts of sentiments shared among the international community among this, some had elicited their support by traveling all the way right into the epicenter of danger to fight against the Russian military. 

And a Taiwanese has just died from this fight.

What Happened

25-year-old Mr Tseng sheng-kuang, an army veteran from Taiwan’s indigenous Amis minority, was part of the battalion of volunteer soldiers. 

No, there wasn’t a typo,  he had become an army veteran at the mere age of 25.

The Amis also known as Pangcah are an indigenous Austronesian ethnic group native to Taiwan. 

According to Taiwan’s semi-official Central News Agency, Mr Tseng was injured during the fight in the eastern city of Luhansk and presumably died from blood loss on the way to the hospital. 

Mr Tseng had joined Ukraine’s fight in June and last contacted his wife on 23 October when he was about to begin a five-day mission. 

According to local media, about 10 Taiwanese are fighting in the war. Mr Tseng is believed to be the first Taiwanese to die in the war. 

Why the Taiwanese are Supporting the Ukrainians

It is not new to us that Taiwan is on Ukraine’s side especially since it is in a similar situation with China waiting to invade them anytime. 

Not only have people flown from Taiwan to fight in the war, the Taiwanese have also donated food, money and medical supplies to Ukraine ever since the war started. 

While Taiwan prefers to be a sovereign and independent country, China claims it as part of its territory. Even though there haven’t been any use of force, the Taiwanese live in constant fear of being invaded by China especially since the Russia-Ukraine war started. 

Since 2020, China has flown air force planes over a corner of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone. 

Perhaps Taiwan has a conviction that if Ukraine is able to save itself from the invasion, this would prevent China from bothering them. 

If you weren’t aware, Taiwan has its own version of NS too. While NS in Singapore is pretty intense, I cannot say the same about Taiwan’s version. 

According to The Wall Street Journal, there is “poor preparation and low morale among the 80,000 Taiwanese being conscripted each year and nearly 2.2 million reservists.”

This issue stems from the Taiwanese military lacking sufficient funds. With the lack of improvement in pay packages and proper training facilities, some of the reservists have even developed a “just passing through mentality”.

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The International Legion of Ukraine

The International Legion of Ukraine was created by Ukraine’s president Mr Volodymyr Zelenskyy which consists of foreign citizens who have joined in the resistance against Russian invasion. 

On 1 March 2022, Zelenskyy  introduced a visa-free regime for entry into Ukraine for citizens of foreign countries who are willing to join the International Defense Legion of Ukraine, except for citizens of the aggressor state.

Foreigners who want to help Ukraine can find detailed step-by-step instructions on how to join the fair fight against the aggressor at https://fightforua.org/.

You can only be part of this force if you have combat experience, you want to actively participate in fighting for European freedom and democracy and you must have a citizenship other than Ukrainian but are supporting Ukraine. 

Even though Singapore’s name is up there on the website, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has warned that it is against the law for anyone in Singapore to take part in the conflict. 

According to Section 125 of Singapore’s Penal Code which states that “whoever wages war against the government of any power in alliance or at peace with the Government, or attempts to wage such war, or abets the waging of such war, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 15 years, to which fine may be added, or with fine”.

Readers: But I really want to help Ukraine in its fight. My IPPT gold.

Well as for this, the MHA has said that you can still make donations to organizations like Singapore Red Cross which are raising funds for humanitarian aid to support affected communities in Ukraine. 

Interestingly enough South Korea has a similar ban where the Korean government had imposed a level 4 restriction for all Korean nationals entering Ukraine to take part in the war.

A former Korean Navy SEAL and YouTuber, Ken Rhee disobeyed this ban and landed in Ukraine on 7 March to fight in the war without permission from the government. 

What happened in the end?

He ended up injuring both of his knees during an infiltration operation and having to return back to Korea for surgery on 27 May 2022. 

According to a post by Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, if a Korean national goes to Ukraine without permission, he will be subjected to criminal punishment and administrative sanctions for violating the country’s passport law.

Status Of The War So Far

According to Aljazeera, in an attempt to reduce strain on energy infrastructure after damage by Russian missile and drone attacks, a few regions in Ukraine including its capital, Kyiv are cutting their light supply.

This was especially after Russia damaged about 40% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure during its air raids last week. 

President Volodomyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation that more than 4.5 million consumers were without power.

Well these are not the only parts of Ukraine with power cuts. 

Kherson, the only regional capital Russia has captured since the invasion, has been left cold and dark after power and water were cut to the surrounding area over the past 48 hours.

While Russian officials blamed Ukraine for its intent on recapturing Kherson, Ukrainian officials blamed it on Russia saying that Russians dismantled 1.5km of power lines.

In other words, yes, both nations are still blaming each other repeatedly on something.

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Featured Image: cna.com.tw