US President Donald Trump’s heated exchange with Volodymyr Zelensky last week has triggered intense debate in Taiwan, where sympathy for the Ukrainian leader is mixed with growing anxiety over whether the US might similarly abandon the island in the case of a cross-strait crisis.
Unlike last month’s high-level US-Russia talks on ending the three-year war in Ukraine, which barely registered with the Taiwanese public, the Trump-Zelensky war of words has dominated discussions across the island.
Observers say this reflects deep-rooted concerns about whether Taiwan can truly rely on the United States in the event of a cross-strait conflict.
The tense Oval Office meeting on Friday saw Trump accuse Zelensky of “gambling with millions of lives” and suggest that the Ukrainian leader’s actions could trigger World War III. The meeting reportedly ended in humiliation for Zelensky, who was asked to leave without signing a US$500 billion rare earth deal that Trump had demanded in compensation for previous US military aid.
The final moments of the 45-minute meeting devolved into a dramatic shouting match between Trump, his Vice-President J.D. Vance and Zelensky, who argued that Russia could not be trusted to uphold any peace agreement given its history of broken commitments. In response, Trump bluntly pressured Zelensky to cede to US demands for mineral interests and to embrace a diplomatic resolution on Washington’s terms.
