The government would continue to place great importance on relations with the nation’s remaining diplomatic allies, despite growing calls to ditch them after four allies in just two years succumbed to Beijing’s promises of financial aid and severed ties with Taipei, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday.
Wu made the remarks at National Chengchi University, his alma mater. It was his first public appearance since he announced on Thursday evening Burkina Faso’s decision to break ties with Taiwan, becoming the fourth diplomatic ally the nation has lost since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in May 2016.
“Judging from the situation at this year’s World Health Assembly [WHA], there are a lot of things we could not have done without our diplomatic allies,” Wu said, in response to a student’s question about whether he agreed that Taiwan’s diplomatic allies are unimportant because they are “tiny, poor and money-seeking.”
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
Some of the nation’s allies submitted proposals calling for Taiwan to participate at the WHA as an observer and engaged in two-on-two debates at the annual conference to advocate for its WHA bid, Wu said.
He also dismissed criticism that the nation’s provision of aid programs to its diplomatic allies are unnecessary and a waste of money.
Taiwan’s official development assistance only accounts for 0.013 percent of the nation’s GDP, compared with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development members, which have a target of 0.7 percent, Wu said.
“These kinds of opinions would make the government’s effort to increase that ratio extremely difficult, because it would be stifled once such assistance is labeled as ‘checkbook diplomacy,’” Wu said, adding that Taiwan’s development owes much to assistance offered by other wealthier nations in the past.
Turning to Beijing’s growing efforts to limit Taipei’s international space, Wu said the key to mitigating the problem lies in carving out a niche.
“The world is a big place and we can find a space anywhere,” Wu said, adding that the ministry’s goal is to cultivate relationships with more democratic and like-minded nations to offset pressure from Beijing.
The Chinese representation issue was also discussed after two students, one of them a Chinese citizen, asked Wu how he plans to push his government’s Taiwan-centric diplomatic policy when it was the Republic of China, rather than Taiwan, with which the nation’s remaining diplomatic allies established ties.
“Whether it is Taiwan’s diplomatic or non-diplomatic allies, what they recognize is the government popularly elected by the nation’s 23 million people. I think there is no mistake about that,” Wu said.
Sharing his optimism about closer relations across the Taiwan Strait, Wu said that, as more Chinese begin to understand and appreciate Taiwan, the Chinese government’s military and diplomatic aggression would eventually draw the ire of its people.
“I believe that one day, the people of China will become the masters of their own nation, just like their Taiwanese counterparts have done,” he added.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as