The influence of the Ukraine crisis is felt not only on the regional level but on a worldwide scale. The Ukrainian crisis has had a significant impact on the supply chains, price surges, and inflation. As a result, no country can be considered to be in a safe environment in the given circumstances. While European countries are believed to face the challenges of inflation due to support of Ukraine and abandonment of Russian energy resources, Asian countries, especially the emerging markets, will have to face the issues of energy resource imports. Thus, countries in East Asia, along with other nations, are not in a secure environment and will have to face economic downturns.
Russia’s catastrophic attack on Ukraine is jeopardizing Eastern Asia’s post-COVID economy rebound. Despite the fact that these nations have few significant economic ties to either Russia or Ukraine, the crisis is driving commodity prices. Among the essential commodities are oil, nickel, wheat, and maize. Considering that many countries in Eastern Asia do not possess many national commodities and have to import goods, such countries are facing major risks. For example, countries that include Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam imported goods from the closest countries, including Russia and Ukraine. However, as of now, Ukrainian authorities are not able to export any goods, and cooperation with the Russian government poses specific political risks. As a result, gas stations run out of gas in these countries, and businesses might be stockpiling gasoline while they anticipate price increases. In terms of food prices, emerging markets in Eastern Asia, especially Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, are prone to be affected harder than other more developed nations in the region, given their highest per-capita use of staple goods such as wheat.
Furthermore, when the matters of rapid price increases of commodities take place, the risks of stagflation become evident. Concerns about stagflation in the Eastern Asian region have been reignited as consumer demand continues to recover from the pandemic and commodities prices continue to increase. While the virus has slowed attempts to alleviate poverty and worsened disparity, further decline in buying power across poor and middle-income people might highlight concerns about the area’s capacity to recover quickly and successfully. However, while developing nations are susceptible to more damage, there are developed countries that are also at the risk of losing control over the nationwide environment. For example, the Ukrainian crisis can be seen as a major challenge for the Chinese government due to their situation with Taiwan. Given the recent events and the desire of Taiwan to gain complete independence, another military conflict might occur in Eastern Asia.
Hence, the Ukrainian crisis has a major influence not only on the European countries that depend on the energy resources of the countries in question but also on the safe environment of Eastern Asian nations. In this sense, the countries that will face the biggest challenges are the developing nations that do not have many kinds of resources and depend on imports from either Ukraine or Russia. While importing from the former is problematic due to the exacerbated conflict, the latter leads to political risks. Still, developed countries also face political issues that might lead to inflation or political issues. Here, China can be considered at risk of dealing with Taiwanese revolts, which can also be detrimental to worldwide safety.