Event Recap | Lessons Learned from the War in Ukraine applicable to Taiwan
HCSS - The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies
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On October 17th, HCSS hosted a thought-provoking symposium on the military lessons learned from the ongoing war in Ukraine and their relevance to potential conflict scenarios, particularly regarding Taiwan’s delicate position. This event brought together policymakers, academics, and defence experts to explore key insights on warfare, strategy, and international security dynamics.
Our distinguished speakers discussed how the geopolitical landscape has been reshaped by the conflict in Ukraine, and how these strategic lessons can be applied to the Indo-Pacific. As geopolitical tensions are on the rise, much can be learned from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine when it comes to operational preparedness, the use of emerging technologies, and the role of geography in the conduct of defensive and offensive operations.
Event Recap
HCSS Director of Research Dr. T. (Tim) Sweijs set the scene for the event with some introductory remarks.
The first panel session: ‘The impact of the war in Ukraine on strategic thinking over Taiwan’ included Dr. Jyh-Shyang Sheu from the Institute for National Defense and Security Research and HCSS Strategic Analyst Benedetta Girardi as speakers.
The session was followed by a Q&A from the audience which was moderated by Dr. T. (Tim) Sweijs.
The second panel session: ‘Military lessons learned in the land, sea, and air domains’ included Dr. Viktoriya Fedorchak from the Swedish Defence University, Dr. Alessio Patalano from King’s College London, and HCSS Strategic Advisor Defence and Security Col. Peter Wijninga. Moderated by HCSS Strategic Analyst Davis Ellison.
The first speaker for this session was Dr. Viktoriya Fedorchak from Försvarshögskolan - Swedish Defence University speaking about the land domain.
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The second speaker for this session was Dr. Alessio Patalano from King's College London who joined us online and spoke about the sea domain.
The third and final speaker for this session was HCSS Strategic Advisor Defence and Security Col. Peter Wijninga who spoke about the air domain.
The session was followed by a Q&A from the audience which was moderated by HCSS Strategic Analyst Davis H. Ellison
This event was organised by HCSS Strategic Analyst Benedetta Girardi.
Analytical thinking - Critical thinking - OSINT/SOCMINT/SNA (The articles I write, I write myself, too much fun to let a program make them)
1moIndeed, a lot of lessons can be learned on the conflict in Ukraine, and we are not the only ones trying to learn them. The two biggest differences to Ukraine and a possible Taiwan conflict would be the inclusion of a lot of sophisticated and numerical traditional firepower and secondly China would have to perform a huge amphibious landing which is notoriously hard and while the Chinese army lack (real battle) experience in general, especially in this field would the results be disastrous. With Beijing already rattled by the sanctions against Russia, the absence of resources like oil, and the complete reliance of their economy on exports, they will think twice before acting. The best deterrent against China will not be the passage of some destroyers threw the Taiwan strait, Guam or a floating aircraft carrier off shore, but sanctions, tariffs, and the threat of using them.