A war over Taiwan would bring about a “global catastrophe” on a scale that China would find hard to bear, Vice President William Lai (賴清德) said on Saturday.
China on April 8 launched three days of military exercises around Taiwan, a move that was widely understood as an expression of anger about a meeting between President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Lai, who is to run for the Democratic Progressive Party in next year’s presidential election, told a campaign event in Tainan that a cross-strait war would have no winners, adding that China hopefully understands that.
Photo courtesy of Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chun-hsien’s Supporters’ Club
“China should realize that once war is launched over Taiwan, Taiwan will admittedly be directly harmed, but it will also cause a global catastrophe,” Lai said. “China will find it hard to bear.”
China should treat Taiwan well, as peace is priceless, Lai said.
Taiwan has been China’s largest foreign investor and has contributed more than US$200 billion to the country over the past few decades, which created jobs and provided stability, he said.
Taiwan stands ready to engage in cross-strait exchanges and cooperation, as long as they are conducted on the basis of equality and dignity, to advance mutual understanding and reconciliation, Lai said.
However, unless China renounces the use of force to take Taiwan, it is necessary to continue building up the nation’s defense capabilities to prepare to resist a Chinese invasion and protect Taiwan, he said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS