US President Barack Obama acknowledged Taiwan as a “thriving” democracy for the first time on Saturday in a speech on the US’ policy in Asia that he gave at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, where he was attending the G20 summit.
In the speech, Obama said that Americans believe in democratic government and “that the only real source of legitimacy is the consent of the people.”
“There are times where, when we speak out on these issues, we are told that democracy is just a Western value. I fundamentally disagree with that. Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, they have built thriving democracies,” he said. “And so here in Asia and around the world, America supports free and fair elections, because citizens must be free to choose their own leaders.”
“We support freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, a free and open Internet, strong civil societies, because the voices of the people must be heard and leaders must be held accountable — even though it’s uncomfortable sometimes,” he said, adding that “people in Hong Kong are speaking out for their universal rights,” in a reference to the pro-democracy protests there.
Obama said that when he took power, the leaders and people of the Asia-Pacific region voiced a “desire for greater American engagement” in the area.
“So as president, I decided that — given the importance of this region to American security, to American prosperity — the United States would rebalance our foreign policy and play a larger and lasting role in this region,” he said.
“Our rebalance is not only about the United States doing more in Asia, it’s also about the Asia-Pacific region doing more with us around the world,” the president added.
In the areas of economics and finance, Washington is looking to help nascent powers, such as Vietnam, instigate reforms of their economies and enhance their maritime capacity, while working with APEC member nations to “tear down barriers to trade and investment” and fight corruption, Obama said.
The US is also committed to fostering ties to regional blocs and institutions, such as by helping make the East Asia summit the Asia-Pacific area’s “leading forum for addressing political and security challenges,” and by supporting ASEAN’s effort to strike a code of conduct agreement with China that would bolster international law in the disputed South China Sea, Obama said.
Washington wants to continue seeking a symbiotic relationship with Beijing, since China is set to “by virtue of its size and its remarkable growth … inevitably play a critical role in the future of this region,” Obama said.
He concluded the talk by saying that the US is dedicated to building a future in conjunction with not only the region’s nations, but also its people, based on shared values and vowing that in the pursuit of security, prosperity and dignity, the region “will have no greater friend than the United States of America.”
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘LAGGING BEHIND’: The NATO secretary-general called on democratic allies to be ‘clear-eyed’ about Beijing’s military buildup, urging them to boost military spending NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte mentioning China’s bullying of Taiwan and its ambition to reshape the global order has significance during a time when authoritarian states are continuously increasing their aggression, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. In a speech at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels on Thursday, Rutte said Beijing is bullying Taiwan and would start to “nibble” at Taiwan if Russia benefits from a post-invasion peace deal with Ukraine. He called on democratic allies to boost defense investments and also urged NATO members to increase defense spending in the face of growing military threats from Russia
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
RSS