European foreign policy officials yesterday sought to present a tough stance against China’s threats against Taiwan, after comments by French President Emmanuel Macron drew a backlash for being perceived as weak.
China has over the past few days held intense military drills around Taiwan.
German Minister for Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock, addressing the issue at a news conference in Beijing alongside Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang (秦剛), said any attempt by China to control Taiwan would be unacceptable and would have serious repercussions for Europe.
Photo: REUTERS
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Joseph Borrell echoed her remarks in a statement prepared for a speech due to be delivered in Beijing at the Center for China and Globalization think tank that had to be canceled due to him testing positive for COVID-19.
“A military escalation in the Taiwan Strait, through which ... 50 percent of world trade goes every day, would be a horror scenario for the entire world,” Baerbock said, adding that it would have “inevitable repercussions” for European interests.
In interviews published after his trip to China last week, which was meant to showcase European unity on China policy, Macron cautioned against being drawn into a crisis over Taiwan driven by an “American rhythm and a Chinese overreaction.”
While many of the remarks were not new, the timing of their publication, and their bluntness, annoyed many Western officials.
“The European Union’s position [on Taiwan] is consistent and clear,” Borrell said in his prepared remarks. “Any attempt to change the status quo by force would be unacceptable.”
Borrell also said that Europe’s future relationship with China depended on Beijing trying to use its influence to find a political solution to the Ukraine crisis.
“It will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the European Union to maintain a relationship of trust with China, which I would like to see, if China does not contribute to the search for a political solution based on Russia’s withdrawal from the Ukrainian territory,” Borrell said.
“Neutrality in the face of the violation of international law is not credible,” he said, adding an appeal for Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and for China to provide more humanitarian aid to Ukrainians.
Xi has met Russian President Vladimir Putin twice, but not spoken with Zelenskiy, since Russia invaded Ukraine.
China stated its opposition to attacks on civilians and on nuclear facilities in a position paper on Ukraine published in February, but it has refrained from openly criticizing Russia for its invasion.
“President Xi’s visit to Moscow has demonstrated that no other country has a bigger influence on Russia than China,” Baerbock said.
“It is good that China has signalled to get engaged in finding a solution, but I have to say clearly that I wonder why China so far has not asked the aggressor Russia to stop the war,” she said. “We all know President Putin has the opportunity to do so any time he wants to.”
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS