The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Wednesday expressed appreciation to the European People’s Party (EPP) for condemning China’s increasing threats against Taiwan and supporting Taiwan as a “valuable partner” in the region.
The ministry’s statement came after the EPP, the largest of the European Parliament’s eight political groups, issued a position paper on EU-China relations, titled “EPP Position Paper: EU-China Relations in a COVID-19 World and Beyond.”
In the paper issued on Monday, the EPP condemned China for heightening its military threats against Taiwan, offered its support for Taiwan’s participation in international organizations and urged the EU to strengthen its cooperation with Taiwan, the ministry said.
“As China has increased the frequency of its infringements on Taiwan’s airspace and claims that there is no median line in the Taiwan Strait, the EPP group, which accounts for nearly 200 seats in the European Parliament, showed support to Taiwan with concrete action,” it said.
The Ministry of National Defense, which last month added a section to its Web site to publish information on the latest movements of the Chinese military near Taiwan, said that Chinese planes have approached Taiwan’s airspace eight times since Sept. 16.
The foreign ministry said that it is in the region’s best interests that the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait be maintained, as Beijing’s attempts to alter the “status quo” in the Strait have raised concerns in the international community.
“Taiwan’s government will continue to work with like-minded countries to maintain peace, stability and prosperity in the strait and in the region,” the foreign ministry said, citing the EPP’s position paper as saying that the party “strongly supports” enabling Taiwan to practically and meaningfully participate in international forums, such as the WHO.
The paper also condemned threats against Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil, who visited Taiwan at the end of August and last month, as well as “China’s increasing threats of potential military intervention on the island.”
On other issues related to Asia, the EPP criticized Beijing for suppressing information on the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in central China, and expressed concern on the state of human rights and freedom in Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang, as well as Beijing’s military expansion in the South China Sea.
“We therefore fully support efforts to strengthen EU cooperation with valued partners in the Asia-Pacific, in particular Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan,” the paper said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit