The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed comments from US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly in which they emphasized a “shared approach” to maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
Blinken made his remarks in a news conference held after a closed-door meeting with Cleverly in Washington.
The US and UK have a “shared approach when it comes to key issues like ensuring peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, as well as looking for ways to cooperate with China where we can work together to solve big challenges,” he said.
Photo: Reuters
“We have to engage with China directly, robustly, regularly, to seek to influence the decisions that are made in Beijing, and do so in a way that benefits the whole world,” he added.
In Taipei, the ministry said in a statement that it welcomes and approves the reaffirmation by the US and UK that they are staunchly committed to regional peace and stability.
Beijing has since last year intensified its use of military threats and coercion against Taiwan, which sparked international alarm about the situation across the Strait, the ministry said.
The remarks by the US and UK officials reflect the high level of consensus among democracies that peace and freedom must be defended for the good of the world, it said.
The ministry continues to work with like-minded partners to defend peace, democratic values and prosperity in the region and across the globe, it added.
Separately, France and Japan yesterday issued a joint statement expressing “strong concerns” about rising tensions in the East and South China seas after their seventh bilateral political-military ministerial consultations, held online.
French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna and Minister of Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu, and Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi and Minister of Defense Yasukazu Hamada participated in the videoconference.
The ministers reaffirmed their opposition to any attempt to unilaterally change the “status quo” by force or coercion, while reiterating that peace and stability across the Strait are essential to global security and prosperity, they were cited by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying.
France and Japan’s fundamental position on Taiwan remains unchanged, they added.
A reciprocal access agreement enabling joint drills and exercises with French and Japanese armed forces is to be planned to enhance bilateral cooperation on security in the region, they said.
Paris and Tokyo affirmed their wish to “strengthen their cooperation to promote a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific,” the ministers said.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s plans for a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific,” revealed in New Delhi in March, were “consistent with French and European strategy guidelines,” they said.
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