The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday applauded a pledge by the G7 to raise US$600 billion in public and private funds to finance infrastructure in developing nations to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The government would not shy away from working with like-minded countries, Deputy Director-General of European Affairs Lu Shih-fan (呂世凡) said.
US President Joe Biden announced the pledge at the G7 summit in Germany on Sunday.
Biden said that the US and other G7 members would only provide “limited funding,” but encouraged private entities to make large-scale investments.
A German think tank has suggested that the G7 expand its membership to include other democracies, such as South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, and rebrand itself as the G10+1, with Taiwan as the “plus one.”
The ministry said it respected the think tank’s suggestion.
The G7 has in the past few years been leaning toward inviting like-minded countries to attend its meetings, Lu said, citing as examples invitations extended last year to Australia, India, South Africa and South Korea.
The G7 has this year extended invitations to Argentina, India, Senegal and South Africa to attend its summit to demonstrate its inclusivity and willingness to work with like-minded countries to face global challenges, defend liberties and the democratic way of government.
Lu said the government applauded such measures and looked forward to following suit.
Commenting on the NATO summit to be held in Madrid today and tomorrow, Lu said a new strategic concept document is expected to be passed at the meeting.
Lu also said that non-NATO countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, have been invited to the summit for the first time.
The ministry also thanked the G7 for a communique it released that “underscores the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and encourages a peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues.”
This is the second consecutive year that the G7 has issued a statement of support for Taiwan, which is appreciated by the Taiwanese government and people, it said.
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
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
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
‘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
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