A blockade of Taiwan would be catastrophic for the global economy, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Cameron told Australian Broadcasting Corp in a program that aired on Thursday.
A possible Chinese invasion or a blockade of Taiwan “is clearly something we’re very concerned about,” Cameron said in an interview with the broadcaster’s 7.30 program.
“There’s no doubt that were there to be something like a blockade, it would have an absolutely calamitous effect not just on Taiwan, but on the global economy,” which would be more significant than the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
Photo: AFP
The UK is opposed to any unilateral action from either side of the Taiwan Strait that challenges the “status quo,” he said.
He called on partners of the UK to cooperate in deterring Beijing, adding that messages should be sent to non-allied countries that a cross-strait contingency would also affect them “very, very badly.”
Asked about Beijing’s rapid military buildup, he said that China has become “much more assertive” in recent years and the UK perceives the approach to be “an epoch-defining challenge.”
China’s concerning behavior, such as with its treatment of Hong Kong and the Uighurs, underline “the need for Britain and Australia and like-minded partners to work together,” he said.
As such, the UK has formed the AUKUS partnership with the US and Australia to share military technology and help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines to invest in the security of the countries and the Indo-Pacific region, he said.
The region “is vital for the world’s prosperity and for our prosperity,” and like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, regional events would have global ramifications, he said.
Separately, Cameron and UK Secretary of Defence Grant Shapps, along with their Australian counterparts Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong (黃英賢) and Minister for Defence Richard Marles, “underscored the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” in a joint statement issued after the Australia-UK Ministerial Consultations held yesterday in Adelaide.
They called for “the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues without the threat or use of force or coercion” and reaffirmed “shared opposition to unilateral changes to the status quo,” it said.
They also pledged to support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations and foster closer ties with the nation in the economic, scientific, trade, technological and cultural fields.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday issued statements to thank Cameron and the ministers for their concerns about the cross-strait situation.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defense yesterday announced the highest single-day number of Chinese military aircraft around the nation this year, which analysts attributed as a reaction to Taiwan’s political outreach to Europe in recent days.
In the 24 hours leading up to 6am yesterday, the ministry said it had detected 36 Chinese military aircraft and six naval ships operating around Taiwan.
Among the aircraft detected, 13 had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, it added.
The announcement comes on the heels of nighttime activity by the Chinese military, with the ministry announcing at about 10:30pm on Thursday that 20 fighter jets, aerial uncrewed vehicles and transport planes had been detected from 7:30pm.
It was also the day after an uptick in activity during the 24-hour period ending at 6am on Thursday, when the ministry said Beijing had sent in 32 aircraft.
Vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) has been travelling in recent days, including to the Czech Republic and the European Parliament.
“Our fight for freedom and democracy is more shared than ever, and the Taiwanese people can rest assured it will always find dear friends in Europeans,” French politician and Member of the European Parliament Dominique Riquet wrote on X on Thursday.
Analyst Sung Wen-ti (宋文笛) said Beijing’s jump in military activity might be a “show of force to drive home its displeasure at Taiwan’s growing international engagement.”
“If this can discourage other international leaders from meeting Hsiao in the future, all the better from Beijing’s perspective,” he said.
Military expert Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) agreed that Hsiao’s European travels could play a motivating factor, but pointed to Asia for added reasons, including a recent Manila meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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