Taiwan hopes to join like-minded nations under the democratic umbrella and jointly counter authoritarian aggression, President William Lai (賴清德) said in a prerecorded speech during the annual Concordia Summit in New York on Tuesday.
Lai addressed the summit via video at Concordia’s invitation, using the opportunity to speak on the issue of Chinese aggression toward Taiwan and Beijing’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758.
Lai’s comments came on the heels of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, which opened on Tuesday.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
China has “distorted” UN Resolution 2758 “in support of its ‘one China’ principle,” he said.
Through its misinterpretation of the resolution, Beijing has falsely “claimed that Taiwan is part of the People’s Republic of China” and that “we have no right to participate in the UN system and other international fora.”
“Democratic Taiwan and authoritarian China are not subordinate to each other, and we will maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait by promoting our Four Pillars of Peace action plan,” Lai said.
Lai unveiled his “four pillars” plan during his inauguration speech on May 20. The pillars refer to his emphasis on defensive capability, economic security, partnerships with other democracies, and stable and consistent cross-strait policy.
“Our goal is to make Taiwan stronger, because a stronger Taiwan is better able to promote democracy, peace and prosperity around the world,” he said.
Lai said that Chinese aggression is a threat to the entire international community, because China “intends to change the rules-based international order and achieve international hegemony.”
In the face of that threat, Taiwan would continue to cooperate with like-minded partners on “democracy chips,” and national defense as a means of achieving peace and deterring authoritarianism, he said.
The president also called on other nations to support democratic institutions worldwide and “counter authoritarian aggression,” including China’s military intimidation in the Taiwan Strait, and the East and South China seas, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Following Lai’s video message, Representative to the US Alexander Yui (俞大?) and former US undersecretary of state Keith Krach discussed UN Resolution 2758.
“The Chinese Communist Party claims that this resolution proves Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan and is likely to invoke that as an excuse to attack Taiwan,” Yui said. “More and more countries, including those in Europe, are recognizing Taiwan’s democracy and are beginning to see through China’s claims.”
In the past two years, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) addressed the UN General Assembly indirectly through nonprofits and talked about the challenges facing Taiwan and her determination to safeguard democracy, he said.
This was the first time Lai addressed the international community before a UN General Assembly about his defense and diplomacy policies. Lai emphasized his determination to strengthen Taiwan’s resilience, his commitment to regional peace and his pursuit for international recognition of the nation’s sovereignty.
Separately, Lai told a community-based civil defense training event that Taiwan would not sign any peace accord with Beijing that implies the nation is part of China.
Academia Formosa, a Christian non-governmental organization, hosted the event marking the launch of civil defense and natural disaster response drills for volunteers in Nantou County’s Puli Township (埔里).
The government is committed to continuing Tsai’s policy to bolster the nation’s defensive capabilities and decouple its economy from China, Lai said.
This means prioritizing the development of a self-sufficient defense industry, increasing foreign military acquisitions, and strengthening the nation’s defensive capabilities, including facilitating civil defense programs, he said.
Taiwan’s solidarity with the alliance of democracies is essential to maintaining the nation’s deterrence against authoritarianism, he said.
Lai said the national security strategy of peace through strength, meaning taking a stance with the world’s democracies and avoiding conflict by preparing for war, is key to deterring any autocratic adventurism.
The government “absolutely will not sign” any peace accord with China if its terms compromise national sovereignty, he said, adding that a robust civil defense helps protect Taiwan from being coerced into inking treaties.
Taiwan is forever committed to maintaining its free and democratic constitutional order, its mutually non-subordinate relationship with China, and the exclusive right of Taiwanese to determine their nation’s future, he said.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS