Russia's invasion of Ukraine has foreign investors fleeing Taiwan. Here's why

War in Europe has triggered a massive flight of capital from an Asian island nearly 5,000 miles away. Over the last month, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has heightened concerns about the risk that China could increase its military force against Taiwan, triggering what some analysts have described as an unprecedented exodus by overseas investors.

In the three weeks following the invasion, foreign investors dumped shares worth about 480 billion Taiwanese dollars ($16.9 billion), according to Alex Huang, director at Mega International Investment Services, a Taipei-based firm. That outflow is the biggest on record, he said, exceeding the value of Taiwanese shares sold by foreign investors in the whole of 2021, which Bank of America analysts have estimated at $15.6 billion. Goldman Sachs analysts project that Taiwan has seen an outflow of $15.6 billion over the past month, topping last year's tally of $15.3 billion.

It's "the biggest [rout] on record so far," Huang told CNN Business. "This is even bigger than the global financial crisis in 2008."

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Russia's invasion of Ukraine sparks concern in Taiwan over readiness for conflict with China