Breaching the Skies: Estonia and Taiwan Respond to Airspace Violations

On 30 October 2025, the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) hosted a seminar in Tallinn featuring Mr Alex Po, Vice Minister of Defense of Taiwan.

The event explored how Estonia and Taiwan address repeated airspace violations—Russia’s recent 12-minute incursion into Estonian airspace and over 1,000 PLA aircraft entries into Taiwan’s ADIZ in 2024. The seminar compared threat perceptions, response strategies, and international engagement, aiming to strengthen airspace sovereignty. The event was invitation only.

Biographies of the keynote speaker and panellists

Mr Horng-Huei (Alex) Po is the Vice Minister for Policy at Ministry of National Defense (MND), R.O.C. (Taiwan). He previously had the privilege to hold the position of the Deputy CEO of Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), the very first defence think tank in Taiwan. Mr. Po’s earlier roles at MND have included Administrative Deputy Minister and Chief of Staff of Air Force Headquarters. Education has been the cornerstone of Mr Po’s professional ascent, enabling him to drive positive change with informed decisions. He holds an Executive MBA from National Taiwan University, which has equipped him with a comprehensive understanding of management and governance. Mr Po is graduate of the War College and the Air Force Command and Staff College of Taiwan’s National Defense University.

Colonel Chun-Kuang Pan is the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at Ministry of National Defense (MND). He has held several key leadership positions within the Air Force, including serving as the Deputy Director of the Operation Division at the Air Combatant Command, Air Force, acting as the Air Force Liaison Officer at the Minister Office’s at the MND. He has also served as the Director of the Intelligence Division at the Air Combatant Command. He has studied at the US Air War College, the Air Command and Staff College at the National Defense University (NDU) and completed the Air Force Operational Staff Officer program in Taiwan. He is also an alumnus of the Air Force Academy, Taiwan.

Commodore (ret) Jüri Saska is the Project manager Euroguard at Baltic Workboats. He served as Commander of the Estonian Navy from 2017 until retirement in 2024, leading key reforms in modernisation, fleet consolidation, and international cooperation. Born in 1974, he began his career as a conscript in 1993 and graduated from the Swedish Naval Academy in 1998. He commanded minehunters, served in the Baltic Naval Squadron, and later led EML Admiral Pitka, the first Baltic ship in NATO’s Standing Mine Countermeasures Group 1. A US Naval War College graduate, he also trained in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden, He holds degrees from Tallinn University of Technology and an MA from Salve Regina University. He launched the trilateral Naval Vision 2030+ with Latvia and Lithuania and oversaw the integration of the Police and Border Guard fleet into the Navy.

Mr Raimond Kaljulaid is Member of the Estonian Parliament for the Social Democrats since 2019. He is a member of the National Defence Committee and the Security Authorities Oversight Select Committee. He previously chaired the National Defence Committee and held senior roles in the Foreign Affairs and EU Affairs Committees. As Chair of Estonia’s Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (PA), Kaljulaid champions the growth of Estonia’s defence industry, attracting international investment and strengthening cooperation with companies from Allied countries. He also serves as the Vice-Chair of the NATO PA sub-committee on Future Security and Defence Capabilities.  

Dr Kristi Raik has been the Director of ICDS since 1 January 2025. She is also an Adjunct Professor of International Relations at the University of Turku. She has previously served as the Deputy Director of ICDS, Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute, Senior Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and as an official at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. Her main areas of expertise are European security, strategic competition in Eastern Europe, EU foreign and security policy, and foreign and security policy of the Baltic states and Finland. She has published in several high-ranking academic journals (e.g. Geopolitics, European Security, Cooperation and Conflict) and media outlets (incl. Foreign Policy). She is a frequent commentator in international media and has briefed the Estonian and Finnish governments, and EU and NATO institutions on various international matters. Kristi has a PhD from the University of Turku.