Taiwan is committed to enhancing its defensive capabilities while expanding cooperation with like-minded partners around the world to defend the country’s freedom and democracy from Chinese expansionism, according to Foreign Minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu.
Faced with ever increasing military provocation from Beijing, Taiwan’s government will continue deepening its strategic partnerships with countries around the world in order to maintain cross-strait peace and stability, Wu said.
Wu made the remarks during an exclusive virtual interview with Antonio Saraiva Lima for an article published in Portugal-based daily newspaper Publico July 28.
Taiwan enjoys strong support from the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, Wu said, evidenced by goodwill gestures such as the recent donation of 2.5 million Moderna COVID-19 vaccine doses, public statements from key officials such as Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and continuous strengthening of the two sides’ partnership through mechanisms such as the Global Cooperation and Training Framework and the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement.
Responding to developments in Taiwan-Lithuania relations, Wu said the two countries share the fundamental values of freedom, democracy and respect for human rights, adding the like-minded partners are poised to benefit from enhanced collaboration in areas spanning industry, technology and trade following the recently announced reciprocal establishment of representative offices.
Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is now a common goal for countries in the Indo-Pacific and around the world, Wu said, citing the EU-Japan Summit, G-7 Foreign and Development Ministers’ Meeting, G-7 Leaders’ Summit, Japan-Australia 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Consultations, Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, U.S.-Japan Summit and U.S.-EU Summit. To that end, Taiwan is willing to engage with China based on the principles of peace, reciprocity, democracy and dialogue, the minister added.
In a tweet on its official Twitter account, the MOFA said: “Minister Wu's @Publico interview is a good one. He talked topics like the campaign of coercion against the country by China, government commitment to maintaining cross-strait peace & stability, exchanges with #EU member state #Lithuania & rock-solid #Taiwan-#US relations.” (DL-E)
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