Taiwan is willing to partner with members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) and can play an important role in addressing key issues that the group hopes to tackle, Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said on Thursday.
The Quad was to hold its first in-person summit yesterday.
The issues — climate change, COVID-19, the restructuring of supply chains and regional security — are Taiwanese interests, Hsiao told India’s Tv9 Telugu, which identified her as “Taiwan ambassador” to the US.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan seeks to establish partnerships with Quad member states, and other like-minded nations in the region, to address these issues, she added.
Taiwan and India have many common interests on which they could collaborate, such as technology and manufacturing, she said.
They could also work together on vaccine manufacturing, as India has demonstrated its resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic with its robust vaccine production, she said.
Asked about Taiwan’s “secret” to resisting China, Hsiao said that Taiwan just wants to survive and that its democracy had been hard-won with many sacrifices.
Taiwan has created a strong economy backed by legal institutions, and has also performed well in technology and other sectors, she said.
Taiwanese love freedom, and want to survive and defend that freedom, she said, adding that it is not looking for a fight, but wants to freely interact with other nations.
US-Taiwan relations are “rock solid”, and both nations share similar values and interests, such as democracy and liberty, as well as the safety and economic prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region, Hsiao said.
Bilateral ties have improved greatly over the past few years, as the nations collaborate on economic and security issues and support democracy, she said.
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