Taiwan could play a pivotal role in coast guard activities and cybersecurity in the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwanese academics said on Saturday.
They made the remarks following reports that Taiwan might participate in activities of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a security grouping between Australia, India, Japan and the US also known as the “Quad.”
Leaders of the four nations issued a joint statement after a meeting in Washington on Friday saying that they were committed to “promoting the free, open, rules-based order, rooted in international law and undaunted by coercion.”
“We stand for the rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, peaceful resolution of disputes, democratic values and territorial integrity of states,” they said.
The formation of AUKUS — a trilateral security alliance between Australia, the UK and the US — as well as an earlier joint statement by Quad members showed that the US seeks to expand the grouping, said Kuo Yu-jen (郭育仁), a political science professor at National Sun Yat-sen University.
Although the latest joint statement did not specifically mention Taiwan, the issue of Taiwan’s possible role in an expanded “Quad Plus” grouping, and the nation’s cooperation with the coast guards of the US and Japan were discussed at the meeting in Washington, he said.
“AUKUS was formed specifically as a military alliance, so its likely that the US intends the Quad to be something different — more of a mechanism for the four member countries to cooperate on a variety of issues,” he said.
Aside from cooperation on coast guard affairs, Taiwan could work with the Quad on the detection of submarines, Internet security and logistics affairs, he said.
Lai I-chung (賴怡忠), a consultant at the Taiwan Thinktank, said that the nation is likely to play a key role in international cooperation on technology and medicine involving the Quad members, as Taiwan excels in the two sectors.
Lai said that 5G mobile networks and other technology, supply chains, and vaccines were mentioned in Friday’s Quad statement, which indicates that Taiwan could also play a role in these areas.
“As the formation of AUKUS frees up Quad nations’ capacities, it can now focus its efforts on other areas that will strengthen the freedoms of other regional countries,” he said. “This will attract more countries to participate in a Quad Plus.”
Asked whether Taiwan could participate in military drills with Quad countries, Lai said that such maneuvers would not make use of Taiwan’s strengths.
However he said that by “improving its defensive capabilities, Taiwan would be contributing to regional stability.”
Under AUKUS, Australia would likely commit its troops to helping Taiwan should a war break out in the Taiwan Strait, he said, adding that Japan would likely also commit its military to the cause.
“Taiwan just needs to focus on its asymmetrical warfare capabilities, strengthen its defenses and work out how to coordinate its defenses with the US, Japan and Australia,” he 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
RSS