Tue, Mar 18, 2025 page1

• Lai touts democratic cooperation against expanding authoritarianism

  YUSHAN FORUM: Taiwan will continue to engage with the world to build an even more inclusive, resilient Indo-Pacific, while defending democracy, the president said

  • By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
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  Taiwan will work with democratic partners to boost “non-red” supply chains and digital solidarity, as well as respond to threats and challenges posed by expanding authoritarianism, President William Lai (賴清德) said at the opening of the Yushan Forum in Taipei yesterday.

  The theme of this year’s two-day annual forum, cohosted by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is “New Southbound Policy+: Taiwan, the Indo-Pacific, and a New World.”

  The Yushan Forum has become more than a platform for the New Southbound Policy, with more than 3,600 international participants in the past eight years, deepening Taiwan’s connections with the world, Lai said.

  

  From left, Japan-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association chairman Keiji Furuya, Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation president Michael Hsiao, President William Lai, former Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Slovenian prime minister Janez Jansa and American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene gesture at the opening ceremony of the Yushan Forum in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times

  “Today’s Taiwan celebrates not only the democratic achievements that are recognized by the international community, but also our strengths in the semiconductor and other tech industries, which enable us to play a key role in restructuring global democratic supply chains and the economic order,” the president said.

  Building on its foundation as a “silicon island,” Taiwan is accelerating its innovation and artificial intelligence applications, as well as developing other promising fields, including quantum technology and precision medicine, he said.

  “In the past, Taiwanese industries went from moving ‘westward’ across the Taiwan Strait, to shifting ‘southbound,’ to working closer with the ‘north,’ but now we are confidently stepping across the Pacific, reaching ‘eastward’ to the Americas and other regions,” he said.

  

  President William Lai speaks at the opening of the Yushan Forum in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: screen grab from the Presidential Office’s Flickr page

  “While staying firmly rooted in Taiwan, our enterprises are expanding their global presence and marketing worldwide,” he said.

  “Taiwan will continue to engage with the world, and we welcome the world to come closer to Taiwan,” he said. “Through international cooperation, we hope to build an even more inclusive, resilient, prosperous Indo-Pacific, while jointly defending the democracy, freedom and peace we so firmly believe in.”

  Lai thanked all the participants for supporting Taiwan, and pledged that Taiwan would “strive alongside its democratic partners to boost ‘non-red’ supply chains and digital solidarity, and together respond to the threats and challenges posed by expanding authoritarianism.”

  Japan-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association chairman Keiji Furuya said it was his fifth straight year to attend the forum.

  Over the past few years, Taiwan’s GDP has surged to more than NT$32 trillion (US$907 billion), investment in China has dropped from 44 percent to 11 percent of the total, and global trust and recognition of Taiwanese have grown, he said.

  Despite the lack of official diplomatic ties, the association has played an important role in connecting Taiwan and Japan in the past 50 years, including allowing Taiwanese to be listed on Japanese family registrations from this year to protect their rights and dignity, he said.

  Japan has continued to expand its cooperation with Taiwan in different areas, people-to-people exchanges reached an all-time high last year and the association is working on policies to strengthen bilateral ties for future generations, he said.

  Citing former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s remarks that “a Taiwan contingency is Japan’s contingency as well,” Furuya said peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait has a major impact on global security and supply chains.

  China increased its defense spending by 7.2 percent last year, demonstrating its determination to further expand its military power, Furuya said.

  “When you look at the actions of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s [習近平] dictatorship, attempting to unilaterally change the ‘status quo,’ we can imagine the risks that lie ahead,” Furuya said. “China’s approach has been consistent; under the guise of international contribution, it concerns only its own benefits.”

  As the situation around Taiwan gets more serious each year, it is extremely important for countries with shared common values — democracy, freedom, rule of law and fundamental human rights — to steadily strengthen cooperation, he added.

  Meanwhile, reiterating the US’ commitment to stand strong with its allies in the Indo-Pacific region, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene told the forum that US President Donald Trump has made clear his deep commitment to securing global peace, and in the Indo-Pacific, it means strengthening deterrence to prevent a war from breaking out.

  Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait are “an indispensable element of security and prosperity for the international community,” he said.

  “Every country in the world has stakes in preserving peace in the Taiwan Strait,” Greene said, adding that a conservative estimate is that a Taiwan conflict would cost 10 percent of global GDP, higher than World War II.

  The US will continue to assist Taiwan to expand its self-defense capabilities and societal resilience in the face of China’s destabilizing military, economic and diplomatic pressure campaign, he said.

  It is crucial that Taiwan rapidly acquire the asymmetric capabilities most needed to deter aggression, he said.

  Lai’s initiative to crack down on long-standing Chinese espionage and influence operations should further enhance the US’ ability to cooperate with Taiwan, he added.

  The economic cooperation between US and Taiwan, two highly complementary economies, will also make the two counties stronger and safer, while providing benefits to the international community, Greene said.
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