For Taiwan’s President, Israel Is a Model to Be Emulated

It’s so rare, nowadays, for a country’s ruler to have nice things to say about tiny, embattled, unjustly vilified Israel. So it is pleasing when someone comes out with praise, rather than blame, for the Jewish state. That someone, just now, is Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, about whose encomium for the Jewish state you can find out more here.

Israel is a model for Taiwan to learn from in strengthening its defenses, President Lai Ching-te said in remarks released on Tuesday, citing the Biblical story of David versus Goliath on the need to stand up to authoritarianism.

Taiwan has been a strong backer of Israel since the 2023 Hamas-led attack on that country which triggered the war in Gaza, though Israel, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic relations with Taipei.

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Attending a Monday night dinner in Taiwan of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Lai, who has also been seeking to win support from the White House, said that Jewish people have suffered constant persecution over their history.

But one of the countries where Jews were never persecuted is China.

“The Taiwanese people often look to the example of the Jewish people when facing challenges to our international standing and threats to our sovereignty from China. The people of Taiwan have never become discouraged,” he said, in comments his office released on Tuesday.

‘VALUABLE MODEL FOR TAIWAN‘

Appeasement has never been the way to stop authoritarian governments, and the concept of peace through strength is a maxim that Israeli, US, and Taiwanese societies have had for years, Lai added.

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“Israel‘s determination and capacity to defend its territory provides a valuable model for Taiwan. I have always believed that Taiwan needs to channel the spirit of David against Goliath in standing up to authoritarian coercion.”

Taiwan has a de facto embassy in Tel Aviv, while Israel has a similar representative office in Taipei. There is no similar arrangement between Taiwan and the Palestinians, with whom China has a close relationship. China recognized a Palestinian state in 1988….

Israel and Taiwan are both vastly outnumbered by their enemies. Israel has a total population of a little more than 10 million, with 7.5 million of them Jews. It faces a potential enemy of 1.7 billion Muslims.

Taiwan has 23 million people, while its enemy, China, has 1.4 billion.

Both countries are relatively poor in natural resources, and owe their economic successes to their inventive, highly intelligent, and hardworking peoples. Both countries have managed so far to stymie would-be aggressors, Israel by fighting four major wars for its survival, in 1948, 1967, 1973, and 2023-present, and Taiwan by presenting too great an obstacle, given its close alliance with the U.S., for the Chinese to risk a debacle if they chose to invade.

Both are democracies, of the kind journalists like to call “vibrant” — meaning, the politicians go at it, hammer and tongs.

Both are nations deeply involved in high-tech, with innovation encouraged at every level by the government, though Taiwan has a way to go to come close to Israel’s astonishing feats as the original Start-Up Nation.

Taiwan primarily exports electronics such as integrated circuits, while Israel is a key supplier of advanced technology and investment. The two nations have increasingly close ties, though they lack formal diplomatic relations, and cooperation extends beyond trade to areas like defense technology, cybersecurity, and economic development. As of now, the trade between the two nations is more than $3 billion, and steadily increasing.

Both nations produce brilliant classical musicians and scientists.

And both, in the end, rely on the support of their one indispensable ally: the United States.

There are many ongoing questions about how the Trump administration will ultimately deal with an aggressive China and its claims both to Taiwan and to large parts of the South China Sea that our allies in the region, such as the Philippines, dispute. But there is no question about Lai Ching-te’s support, and its wisdom. Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former U.S. Army officer who taught at West Point, has stated, “I think there’s much to learn for foreign militaries from the experience in Gaza. I’m confident that the United States and its allies are taking copious notes.” Bradley Bowman recognizes the many achievements of the IDF, in its battle-management system known as Torch 750, that integrates the use of air power with advancing ground troops, that has enabled the Israeli infantry to “see” around buildings; in its ability to detect and destroy terror tunnels dug deep underground; in the ability of the revolutionary Israeli-made Trophy active-protection system, which can instantly detect and intercept lethal armor-penetrating threats, such as anti-tank guided missiles and rocket-propelled grenades, and is now used on all Merkava 4 tanks and installed, as well, by the U.S. Army on four brigades of Abrams tanks. Even Israel’s success at quickly mobilizing 360,000 Reservists holds lessons, Bowman says, for Taiwan as it readies itself to defend against a Chinese invasion.

And there is so much more that proves, yet again, that the American military has no better or more useful ally than the IDF. Taiwan could find that as well.