Leaders of the G7 nations on Friday reiterated the importance of stability and peace in the Taiwan Strait, while expressing support for Taiwan’s participation in international organizations.
“We reaffirm that maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is indispensable to international security and prosperity. We support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations, including in the World Health Assembly and WHO technical meetings, as a member where statehood is not a prerequisite and as an observer or guest where it is,” the leaders said in an end-of-summit statement in Italy.
“There is no change in the basic positions of the G7 members on Taiwan, including stated one China policies,” the statement said, while calling for “a peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues.”
Photo: AP
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday thanked the G7 leaders in a message on X.
“Heartfelt thanks to the leaders of the #G7 for reaffirming the importance of peace & stability in the Taiwan Strait and for supporting #Taiwan’s int’l participation,” Lai wrote.
“As a responsible global stakeholder, Taiwan will continue to safeguard the status quo & our hard-won democracy,” he added.
The Presidential Office also thanked the G7 leaders for their support for peace in the Strait and Taiwan’s participation in international bodies, office spokeswoman Kuo Ya-hui (郭雅慧) said.
Taiwan is a responsible member of the international community and in the Asia-Pacific region, and would continue to work with like-minded nations to uphold democracy, freedom, the rule of law and human rights, despite Chinese military threats and efforts to strangle Taiwan economically and politically, Kuo said.
In a separate statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said that Taiwan would continue to work with G7 members and other like-minded countries to uphold the rules-based international order and maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and worldwide.
In the end-of-summit statement, the leaders of the G7 nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US — said they were seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China seas, adding that they have “strong opposition to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force or coercion.”
“We continue opposing China’s dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia in the South China Sea and its repeated obstruction of countries’ high-seas freedom of navigation,” it said.
They also said they remain concerned about the human rights situation in China, including the use of forced labor in Tibet and Xinjiang.
“We are also worried by China’s crackdown on Hong Kong’s autonomy, independent institutions, and civil society and continued erosion of rights and freedom, including through the recent enactment of legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law that has broad and vaguely defined provisions regarding ‘sedition,’ ‘state secrets’ and interactions with foreign entities,” it said. “We express concerns about the use of such laws to silence dissent in Hong Kong and overseas, including politically motivated prosecutions.”
Regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the G7 leaders called on China “to press Russia to stop its military aggression and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine,” as well as “to cease the transfer of dual-use materials, including weapons components and equipment, that are inputs for Russia’s defense sector.”
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