Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members yesterday condemned China’s live-fire exercises near Taiwan, saying it undermines regional peace and would only push Taiwanese sentiment further from China.
Officials from democratic nations regularly visit each other’s countries, DPP spokeswoman Hsieh Pei-fen (謝佩芬) said in a statement, referring to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan this week.
The international community has condemned China’s military intimidation, she added.
Photo: Hsu Cho-hsun, Taipei Times
“They have chosen among the world’s busiest civilian airspaces and sea lanes for their live-fire exercises. This unilateral action disregards its international obligations,” Hsieh said.
She said that Pelosi’s trip had the support of 26 US opposition senators, including US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Many of the world’s democratic nations also endorsed Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, while opposing China’s response of military intimidation, Hsieh said.
“It shows that China’s actions run counter to democratic values cherished by the international world,” she said.
The DPP thanked Pelosi and her delegation, and voiced appreciation for the support from European, US and G7 dignitaries.
“Although engagement among democracies might be met by intimidation, these cannot stop us from developing closer ties based on shared democratic values,” she said.
At various public events yesterday, well-known DPP figures suggested that Taiwan should continue forging stronger links with the US and other countries, as China’s belligerent response is undermining worldwide peace and security.
Keelung Mayor Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said that China’s actions are unwise.
“It only pulls the hearts and minds of Taiwanese further from China,” he said.
Taiwan is significantly different from China in its rule of law and democratic framework, he said.
“Taiwanese enthusiastically welcomed Pelosi, because we have freedom in our vibrant democratic society,” former Hsinchu mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) said.
“We very much welcome more foreign friends to visit Taiwan and see Taiwanese living in a free, democratic country,” he said.
“People here expect continuing economic growth and prosperity, and no one wants Chinese military intimidation, which has been going on for many years,” he added.
“The international community cannot accept China’s hostile action, as Taiwan is seeking to engage and enhance ties with other countries,” Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tseng (鄭文燦) said.
“We heard top G7 officials condemn China for threatening regional stability,” he added.
Police have detained a Taoyuan couple suspected of over the past two months colluding with human trafficking rings and employment scammers in Southeast Asia to send nearly 100 Taiwanese jobseekers to Cambodia. At a media briefing in Taipei yesterday, the Criminal Investigation Bureau presented items seized from the couple, including alleged victims’ passports, forged COVID-19 vaccination records, mobile phones, bank documents, checks and cash. The man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and his girlfriend, surnamed Tsan (詹), were taken into custody last month, after police at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport stopped four jobseekers from boarding a flight to Phnom Penh, said Dustin Lee (李泱輯),
BILINGUAL PLAN: The 17 educators were recruited under a program that seeks to empower Taiwanese, the envoy to the Philippines said The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines on Thursday hosted a send-off event for the first group of English-language teachers from the country who were recruited for a Ministry of Education-initiated program to advance bilingual education in Taiwan. The 14 teachers and three teaching assistants are part of the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which aims to help find English-language instructors for Taiwan’s public elementary and junior-high schools, the office said. Seventy-seven teachers and 11 teaching assistants from the Philippines have been hired to teach in Taiwan in the coming school year, office data showed. Among the first group is 57-year-old
TRICKED INTO MOVING: Local governments in China do not offer any help, and Taiwanese there must compete with Chinese in an unfamiliar setting, a researcher said Beijing’s incentives for Taiwanese businesspeople to invest in China are only intended to lure them across the Taiwan Strait, after which they receive no real support, an expert said on Sunday. Over the past few years, Beijing has been offering a number of incentives that “benefit Taiwanese in name, while benefiting China in reality,” a cross-strait affairs expert said on condition of anonymity. Strategies such as the “31 incentives” are intended to lure Taiwanese talent, capital and technology to help address China’s economic issues while also furthering its “united front” efforts, they said. Local governments in China do not offer much practical
‘ORDINARY PEOPLE’: A man watching Taiwanese military drills said that there would be nothing anyone could do if the situation escalates in the Taiwan Strait Many people in Taiwan look upon China’s military exercises over the past week with calm resignation, doubting that war is imminent and if anything, feeling pride in their nation’s determination to defend itself. After a visit to Taiwan last week by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, China has sent ships and aircraft across an unofficial buffer between Taiwan and China’s coast and missiles over Taipei and into waters surrounding the nation since Thursday last week. However, Rosa Chang, proudly watching her son take part in Taiwanese military exercises that included dozens of howitzers firing shells into the Taiwan Strait off