Pressure from China was one of the reasons Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo (
Singapore has felt tremendous pressure from China since its leader Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) visited Taiwan as deputy prime minister in July. Yeo made the remarks in the UN so that China "would feel more comfortable," ministry spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) said.
At the 59th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Yeo told world leaders the international community should not allow the deteriorating relationship across the Taiwan Strait to get out of control.
"The push towards independence by certain groups in Taiwan is most dangerous because it will lead to war with mainland China and drag in other countries. At stake is the stability of the entire Asia-Pacific region," he said.
Yeo said cross-strait relationship began to worsen after former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) gave "a shocking interview" to a Japanese magazine describing himself as Moses leading his people out of Egypt.
"From then on, cross-straits relations went from bad to worse as pro-independence forces in Taiwan became increasingly adventurous," Yeo said.
Like in the Middle East, the international community has a strong vested interest in supporting a peaceful resolution of cross-straits conflict, based on the "one China" position adopted and settled by the UN in 1971, Yeo added.
Responding to Yeo's comments, Lu said each country in East and Southeast Asia has a responsibility to contribute to the region's peace and stability. "But they should use even-handed approaches in dealing with Taiwan and China," he said.
"China has deployed many missiles aimed at us. Is that acceptable? Taiwan wants to defend itself. Is that wrong?" the spokesman said, appealing to the international community for fair treatment of Taiwan.
Lee Shen-hsiung (李勝雄), vice chairman of the World United Formosans for Independence, said Taiwan is an independent country and not ruled by China.
"Why can't Singapore, as an independent country, respect Taiwan as a sovereign nation?" he said.
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
RSS