The strong support of like-minded partners worldwide for cross-strait peace and stability are sincerely appreciated by the government and people of Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said April 5.
In a joint statement released following a meeting of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Japan’s Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and South Korea’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul April 3 in Brussels, the three countries emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element of global security and prosperity. They expressed concern about provocative actions in the region and called for an end to further destabilizing moves.
The three countries encouraged peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues and opposed any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion. They also voiced support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations.
Similar sentiments were mentioned in a statement released April 1 by the EU’s European External Action Service, and resolutions on annual reports on the implementation of both the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Common Security and Defense Policy were adopted by the European Parliament April 2, the MOFA said. The CFSP resolution urged the EU and its member states to work closer with Taiwan to further boost economic, trade, and investment ties, and condemned China’s continuous distortion of U.N. General Assembly Resolution 2758. The ministry added that the CSDP denounced China’s hostile acts including cyberattacks and the entry of its warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, in addition to calling for regular security exchanges between the EU and Taiwan.
The MOFA said that the U.S. Department of State and White House released statements immediately after China’s drills, condemning Beijing for once again escalating regional tensions as they reaffirmed that the U.S.’ long-standing commitment to Taiwan remained unchanged. Other ministries and high-ranking officials from Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and the U.K., as well as the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China also voiced support of Taiwan through delivering remarks and releasing social media posts and statements, the ministry added.
In response, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said as a responsible member of the global community, Taiwan will continue to work with like-minded partners to strengthen democratic resilience and safeguard regional and cross-strait peace, prosperity and stability. (YCH-E)
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