The two-day Yushan Forum started today in Taipei under the theme of “New Southbound Policy+: Taiwan, the Indo-Pacific and a New World.”
“Taiwan will continue to engage with the world, and we welcome the world to come closer to Taiwan,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at the opening ceremony.
Organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, the forum is taking place today and tomorrow.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
In addition to Lai, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and foundation president Michael Hsiao (蕭新煌), international participants such as former Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Slovenian prime minister Janez Jansa, Czech Senator Pavel Fischer and American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene are also in attendance, the ministry said in a news release.
Taiwan’ continues to show its commitment to “democracy, freedom, high-end technology and social innovation, fostering strong partnerships with like-minded allies,” Michael Hsiao said.
The new “New Southbound Policy Plus” policy would see the nation establish “six corridors” of collaboration with participating nations: technology, health, resilience, think tanks, non-governmental organizations and young people, he said.
Taiwan is a “beacon of liberty, a testament of how people thrive in freedom,” Rasmussen said.
Referencing ongoing global geopolitical tensions, Rasmussen said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) “is watching Ukraine,” and democracies must work together to signal collective strength and commitments.
“Taiwan belongs to the family of democracies,” Rasmussen added.
“Taiwan is increasingly becoming a crucial pillar of peace and stability, not only for the Indo-Pacific region, but the entire world,” Jansa said.
Japan would continue its deepening ties with Taiwan and would cooperate with Taiwan on its commitments to democracy and regional stability, said Keiji Furuya, chairman of the Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council and Member of the House of Representatives in Japan’s National Legislature.
“A Taiwan contingency is a Japan contingency,” Furuya said, repeating a statement by former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s policy on maintaining peace in East Asia.
Looking at the US, Greene said that the US stands with its regional allies to promote shared interests and regional stability.
Referencing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s plans to expand manufacturing in the US, Greene said Taiwan plays a crucial role in “reindustrializing the United States.”
The forum is to continue for another day tomorrow, featuring more remarks from high-level officials from Taiwan as well as like-minded nations.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
RSS