The protests in Hong Kong are proof that China’s “one country, two systems” model does not work, because authoritarianism and democracy cannot coexist, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told a security forum in Taipei yesterday, alerting the world to Chinese expansionism.
While Taiwan promotes sustainable and joint development projects with its partners, Chinese military expansionism has sparked concern in many countries, Tsai said at the 2019 Asia-Pacific Security Dialogue, citing Beijing’s aggressive claims over territory and its military buildup in the South China Sea.
China has not given up its ambition to annex Taiwan by force or impose its “one country, two systems” model on the nation, despite the model’s failure in Hong Kong, the president said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Taiwan has been developing its own aircraft and submarines, with its first domestically developed training aircraft model to be finished in the second half of next month, she said, while thanking US President Donald Trump’s administration for its four previous arms sales to Taiwan.
Trump on Sunday said he had approved another US$8 billion package for the sale of 66 upgraded F-16V jets to Taiwan.
The Ministry of National Defense on Monday said it hoped the US Congress would approve the deal as soon as possible to benefit peace and security in the Taiwan Strait and the Asia-Pacific region as a whole.
Former Australian minister for defense Christopher Pyne — who resigned in May and is visiting Taiwan for the first time — also warned of China’s increasing militarization in the South China Sea and talked of Australia’s continuous investment in defense and telecommunications facilities.
Asked about a report released on Monday by the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney that said the US military is losing its primacy in the Pacific, Pyne said he has not yet read the report, but that it would be an exaggeration to say that the US is losing its primacy.
“You need to remember that one of every two dollars in the world that is spent on defense is being spent by the United States,” which continues investing in the area and related alliances, he said.
The US also has many allies and partners, including Taiwan, Japan and South Korea across the Pacific, he said.
“Now the world is watching Hong Kong,” where the protests are being driven by demands for freedom, liberty and respect for the rule of law, he said.
Pyne said that he does not think China would move against Hong Kong like it did on Tiananmen Square in 1989, given its increasing engagement in global economy and diplomacy.
How Beijing reacts to the protests would send a message across the region, he said.
Taiwanese, living in a different place from the territory, would also see what “one country, two systems” actually means, Pyne added.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
‘COMING MENACINGLY’: The CDC advised wearing a mask when visiting hospitals or long-term care centers, on public transportation and in crowded indoor venues Hospital visits for COVID-19 last week increased by 113 percent to 41,402, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, as it encouraged people to wear a mask in three public settings to prevent infection. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said weekly hospital visits for COVID-19 have been increasing for seven consecutive weeks, and 102 severe COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths were confirmed last week, both the highest weekly numbers this year. CDC physician Lee Tsung-han (李宗翰) said the youngest person hospitalized due to the disease this year was reported last week, a one-month-old baby, who does not