Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics.
Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said.
The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait.
Photo: CNA
The international community closely observed the Jan. 13 presidential and legislative elections in Taiwan, waiting to see how Taiwanese would cast their ballots when faced with China’s military threats and propaganda, he added.
Taiwanese voted for the country to work more closely with other democratic countries, he said.
Situated in the first island chain, Taiwan is directly threatened by China, “but we know our responsibility, and we will do our best to maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” he said.
Taiwan hopes the international community would continue to show concern over the situation in the Strait, as maintaining regional peace and stability can only be achieved by working together with the global community, he added.
While continuing to be a crucial part of the international supply chain, Taiwan hopes to obtain more significant support from the US government and the international community for the nation’s inclusion in regional economic organizations, Lai said.
Instability in China’s economy and government, as well as a more hostile environment across the Strait, have led to many Taiwanese businesses pulling out of China and investing in the US, Japan, the EU and other parts of the Indo-Pacific region, he said.
If Taiwan can work with other countries in a regional framework, it would bolster the nation’s industrial development, he added.
Members of the delegation included German Marshall Fund Indo-Pacific Program managing director Bonnie Glaser, Eurasia Group China practice managing director Rick Waters, American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Zack Cooper and Freeman chair in China Studies at the US Center for Strategic and International Studies Jude Blanchette.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
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