The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday thanked French lawmakers for sending a letter to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China to voice support for Taiwan.
French newspaper Le Monde published the letter signed by French Senator Olivier Cadic and a group of cross-party lawmakers on Tuesday, a day before French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Beijing for an official visit.
“The time is not for weakness or silence” given Chinese interference in Hong Kong and its ambitions over Taiwan, the letter says, urging Macron to send a firm message to Beijing during his trip.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) intention to unite with Taiwan, which is manifested by increased intimidation of all kinds, is of growing concern, it says.
“It now seems obvious that Xi’s China has, in all areas, decided to accelerate history,” it says.
China has tightened its control over Hong Kong in the past three years in defiance of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which exemplifies its desire to expand its clout, the letter says.
Hong Kong’s National Security Law, which came into force in June 2020, curtails people’s freedoms and renders the Hong Kong administration a puppet government that is subservient to Beijing, it says.
The UN Human Rights Committee last year recommended the immediate repeal of the law, as it violates civil and political rights, the letter says, adding that the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights last month also found that the law violated the rights of journalists and academics.
“What is currently happening in Hong Kong could happen again tomorrow in Taiwan if the international community does not react preventively,” the lawmakers said in the letter.
They called on the West to denounce human rights violations in Hong Kong to support the victims and “let Beijing know that its unacceptable behavior in Hong Kong will not be accepted in Taiwan,” adding that the gesture is “crucial and imperative.”
OPPORTUNITY
Macron and Von der Leyen’s visit presents a good opportunity to issue a warning against Beijing and to affirm unfailing solidarity with Taiwan, the letter says.
The ministry thanked the lawmakers for their concern for security in the Taiwan Strait, adding that Taiwan would continue to work with France and other like-minded countries to maintain a peaceful and open Indo-Pacific region, as well as safeguard democracy and freedom.
The French parliament has been taking concrete actions to support Taiwan, the ministry said, citing two pro-Taiwan resolutions passed by the French Senate and the French National Assembly in May 2021 and November 2021 respectively.
Delegations from the French parliament have visited Taiwan four times since October 2021, it said.
Intelligence agents have recorded 510,000 instances of “controversial information” being spread online by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) so far this year, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report yesterday, as it warned of artificial intelligence (AI) being employed to generate destabilizing misinformation. The bureau submitted a written report to the Legislative Yuan in preparation for National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee today. The CCP has been using cognitive warfare to divide Taiwanese society by commenting on controversial issues such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investments in the
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘COMPREHENSIVE PLAN’: Lin Chia-lung said that the government was ready to talk about a variety of issues, including investment in and purchases from the US The National Stabilization Fund (NSF) yesterday announced that it would step in to staunch stock market losses for the ninth time in the nation’s history. An NSF board meeting, originally scheduled for Monday next week, was moved to yesterday after stocks plummeted in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of 32 percent tariffs on Taiwan on Wednesday last week. Board members voted to support the stock market with the NT$500 billion (US$15.15 billion) fund, with injections of funds to begin as soon as today. The NSF in 2000 injected NT$120 billion to stabilize stocks, the most ever. The lowest amount it
NEGOTIATIONS: Taiwan has good relations with Washington and the outlook for the negotiations looks promising, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo said Taiwan’s GDP growth this year is expected to decrease by 0.43 to 1.61 percentage points due to the effects of US tariffs, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei yesterday, citing a preliminary estimate by a private research institution. Taiwan’s economy would be significantly affected by the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs slapped by the US, which took effect yesterday, Liu said, adding that GDP growth could fall below 3 percent and potentially even dip below 2 percent to 1.53 percent this year. The council has commissioned another institution
RSS