Outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) expressed optimism about maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait by working together with international friends in an interview with the BBC released on Saturday.
“If we deal with the matter very carefully, there’s still a great possibility for us to maintain peace as we all need,” Tsai said.
A military conflict with China is possible and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) might have “a plan of some sort, but I don’t think that is a definitive plan,” she said.
Photo: CNA
Xi would have to adjust his plans as the world is changing, especially after the war in Ukraine, which demonstrated that democracies around the globe are capable of cooperating “to form a meaningful deterrent whenever there is an invasion contemplated,” she said.
“The cost of taking over Taiwan is going to be enormous,” she said, adding that Taiwan is focusing on increasing that cost by bolstering the nation’s self-defense capabilities and working with international partners.
Taiwan has made an “unprecedented” investment into its military capacity-building, with a focus on using that funding efficiently “to build our capacity at a speed that can match with the expansion of the Chinese” military’s capabilities, she said.
Photo: CNA
China has to look beyond the military expenses to the economic costs, as launching an invasion of Taiwan “may probably delay the development of China for years, even for decades,” she said.
Aggressive Chinese behavior in the region has also alarmed neighboring countries, which have repeatedly voiced opposition against any unilateral change of the “status quo,” she said.
Asked what the “status quo” means to her, Tsai said that Taiwanese “enjoy freedom and democracy and progressive values, and we are a group of people that are very proud of ourselves.”
One of the most satisfying achievements of her two terms in office is Taiwan’s relationships with other countries, she said.
“This is a time that we feel that we are actually part of the world rather than part of the cross-strait” situation, she said.
“We need friends, and we need people to come and express their concerns for us,” she said, adding that working with other nations has lessened the effects of cross-strait tensions.
Tsai disputed arguments that say the US should shift its support from Ukraine to Taiwan, considering the latter’s critical role in the global supply chain and geopolitics.
“You have to support Ukraine until the very end, because the determination is the most important thing as far as we are concerned,” she said.
The world’s support for Ukraine offers vital confidence for Taiwanese, she added.
Meanwhile, on her last day in office yesterday before president-elect William Lai (賴清德) is sworn in today, Tsai at the Presidential Office met with several delegations, including from the UK, Japan and Singapore, who are to attend the inauguration.
During her separate meetings with each delegation, Tsai expressed hope that they could support Taiwan’s participation in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
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