A new fund for investing in allied countries with contributions from private entities as well as the government is being planned, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Wednesday, as he confirmed that a presidential visit to Taiwan’s allies is being planned.
As Taiwan lost diplomatic ally Nauru to China shortly after January’s presidential election, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been alert to China’s potential “poaching” of Taiwan’s allies, especially around President William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, Lin told reporters.
Although Taiwan’s allies have “stable relationships” with Taipei, China is nevertheless trying to discourage the nation’s international participation, Lin said.
Photo: Taipei Times
The ministry has formulated countermeasures against China’s Coast Guard Law and 22 guidelines “to punish Taiwan independence die-hards,” while also training officials at overseas missions to prepare for possible scenarios, he said.
Lin also confirmed that visits to allied nations by Lai are being arranged, although a full plan has not been determined.
A stopover in the US is part of the plan in accordance with precedent, he added.
The ministry would discuss how to arrange presidential visits in the US without inducing unnecessary responses ahead of the US presidential election in November, he said.
Meanwhile, Lin proposed an economic and trade diplomacy framework that would shift from strengthening allies to enhancing their prosperity.
Taiwan could share its industrial experience through collaborations on talent, capital and technology to create economic prosperity in allied countries, which would exert an influence on their neighbors in the long run, he said.
The Central and Eastern Europe Credit Fund has seen fruitful outcomes and the New Southbound Fund is being compiled, and a fund for a “prosperous allies” goal would be established next, with contributions to be from private entities as well as the government, Lin said.
The Executive Yuan’s economic diplomacy task force has announced two preparatory meetings and agreed to boost Taiwan’s international participation by utilizing the nation’s innovative energy from the “five trusted industry sectors” named by Lai: semiconductors, artificial intelligence, military, security and surveillance, and next-generation communications.
To enhance the prosperity of its allies, Taiwan would assist in constructing soft and hard infrastructure, and supply technical solutions in smart medicine, tourism, water resources, information systems and other fields, Lin said, adding that the policy aligns with the US government’s economic diplomacy task force set up last month and its strategy of “digital solidarity” announced in May.
Lin said that he has been reviewing and summarizing Taiwan’s collaborations with diplomatic allies, and would have more time to visit them to look into the bilateral collaboration programs and fulfil task objectives once this legislative session ends.
“Taiwan’s foreign cooperation strategy will resemble a ‘grid-like strategic structure,’ going from bilateral cooperation to regional, multilateral ones,” he said.
There is a plan for Taiwan to be included in the US defense supply chain as part of its friend-shoring policy, he added.
Additional reporting by CNA
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 —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats