Economic cooperation and the resilience of supply chains are pillars that democracies can rely on to face authoritarianism together, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told a delegation from the Washington-based Atlantic Council think tank yesterday.
The seven-member delegation includes former Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite, former US secretary of defense Mark Esper, former South Korean joint chiefs of staff Choi Yoon-hee and Czech diplomat Petr Tuma.
Tsai thanked the delegation for supporting the nation through practical actions, and repeatedly emphasizing at international events the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Photo courtesy of the T1 League
In the past three years, the world has faced international challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which bolstered the resilience of global democracy and underlined the importance of cooperation among democratic countries, she said.
Taiwan, Lithuania and the Czech Republic share the experience of fighting for democracy, and stand together with other democratic countries at the forefront of defending democracy and freedom against threat of authoritarian expansion, she said.
Over the past few years, economic and trade ties between Taiwan, the US and Europe have become closer, which not only improves Taiwan’s economic independence, but also serves the common interests of the parties involved, Tsai said.
Photo courtesy of the T1 League
Taiwan last year launched the Central and Eastern Europe Investment Fund to improve connections with European countries in strategic industries such as biotechnology and electric vehicles, she said.
Taiwan will continue to expand cooperation with like-minded countries and jointly contribute to maintaining a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific region, she said.
Grybauskaite said that Lithuania and Taiwan are “small, but proud countries” that are facing hostile neighbors, but both have the strength to protect their people.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan’s democratic transition and the development of a prosperous economy show that national strength does not depend on the size of the country, but its real power, she said.
She said she hopes that “Taiwan’s people create their country in the way they would like to, with nobody dictating how to do it.”
On Tuesday, Tsai and Grybauskaite watched a basketball game between Lithuania and Latvia at the Sinjhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City.
The two nations and Puerto Rico played three warm-up games ahead of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, which begins today in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The organizer of the warm-up games invited the World Bae cheerleaders to accompany the Puerto Rico team to a night market on Monday, with star player Isaiah Pineiro trying out games including air-gun shooting and fishing.
Separately, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday welcomed a delegation from the Riksdag’s Committee on Industry and Trade.
The delegation, which is scheduled to depart Taiwan tomorrow, comprises seven legislators and is the third Riksdag delegation to visit Taiwan this year, demonstrating the strong support of the Swedish parliament for Taiwan, the ministry said in a press release yesterday.
Taiwan has close economic and trade relations with Sweden, it said, adding that Sweden is Taiwan’s largest trading partner in northern Europe and the second-largest source of foreign investment in the region.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at the Stockholm China Forum in May reiterated concern about tensions across the Taiwan Strait and expressed hopes to boost Sweden’s relationship with Taiwan, it said.
The delegation would exchange views with government officials and experts on issues such as economic and trade ties, industrial development and innovative technologies, the ministry said.
Additional reporting by Nien Miao-yun
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
RSS