The frameworks of Ukraine’s contemporary war on Taiwan

Speakers:

Paul Jobin, researcher at the Institute of Sociology of Academia Sinica (Taiwan) and professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei.

Gilles Guiheux, professor at the Université Paris Cité and researcher at CESSMA. 

Michael Lucken, professor at INALCO-Ifrae and member of the Institut universitaire de France

This session will discuss the consequences of the Russo-Ukrainian war for East Asia from a recent collective publication entitled War frames: insights from Eastern Europe and East Asia edited by Paul Jobin, Horng-Luen Wang and Olga Kutsenko (The Sociological Review / Sage, March 2026). Despite the geographical distance, the Russian attack on Ukraine shook Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea. In addition to the engagement of North Korean troops alongside the Russians, there is above all the fear of a similar scenario in the Taiwan Strait and its repercussions for the entire region, starting with Taiwan of course, but also Okinawa and all of Japan, given the high concentration of US military bases in Okinawa and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces near Taiwan.

As the authors of War frames show... , war is not only a military or geopolitical event, but also a force that transforms the frames of reference and the symbolic fabric of society. The focus will be on three articles in this issue, devoted to Taiwan, China and Japan, each of which has been the subject of an original investigation. In China, contrary to what state propaganda would have us believe, a military invasion of Taiwan is not supported by the urban population. In Taiwan, the military was once a symbol of dictatorship; today it is supported by a majority of society. In Japan, even the left is forced to revise its pacifism.

Organisation : Juliette Genevaz (U. Lyon III / Ifrae) View e-mail