Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday criticized recent comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Taiwan was provoking China, saying that they were a “distortion.”
Putin’s remarks about Taiwan during a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in the Russian city of Sochi on Thursday were “a complete distortion of the truth,” MOFA said in a press release.
Taiwan “strongly condemns” the Russian leader for comments that “disparage Taiwan” by labeling it as part of China and “misrepresent Taiwan’s sovereign status,” MOFA said.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
The Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and the Chinese Communist Party has never controlled Taiwan, the ministry added.
MOFA was responding to Putin’s comments that echoed Beijing’s territorial claims over Taiwan and accusations that Taiwan was stirring up a Ukraine-style crisis in Asia to attract outside support, Reuters reported.
The ministry said that democratic nations around the world had responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with condemnation and punitive measures as a show of support for Ukrainians’ fight for their survival and sovereignty, as well as a joint defense of universal values.
Taiwan, faced with military threats from China, has steadfastly worked to protect its own survival and sovereignty, as well as served on the front line of safeguarding democracy and freedom in the Indo-Pacific region, MOFA added.
Leaders from Russia, which reaffirmed its “comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation” with China in May, have on more than one occasion publicly advocated for Beijing’s claims over Taiwan.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
The Civil Aviation Administration yesterday said that it is considering punishments for China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines for making hard landings and overworking their cabin crew when the nation was hit by Typhoon Kong-rey in October last year. The civil aviation authority launched an investigation after media reported that many airlines were forced to divert their flights to different airports or go around after failing to land when the typhoon affected the nation on Oct. 30 and 31 last year. The agency reviewed 503 flights dispatched by Taiwanese airlines during those two days, as well as weather data, flight hours
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Three people have had their citizenship revoked after authorities confirmed that they hold Chinese ID cards, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday. Two of the three people were featured in a recent video about Beijing’s “united front” tactics by YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) and Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), including Su Shi-en (蘇士恩), who displayed a Chinese ID card in the video, and taekwondo athlete Lee Tung-hsien (李東憲), who mentioned he had obtained a Chinese ID card in a telephone call with Chen, Liang told the council’s weekly news conference. Lee, who reportedly worked in