The Republic of China (ROC) is to continue to pursue reconciliation and diplomacy with China because the government’s cross-strait policies have improved external relations and removed the “flashpoint” that existed in East Asia previously, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) told an international forum on Asia-Pacific security.
Lin delivered a luncheon addressed to an international audience at this year’s Asia-Pacific Security forum hosted by the Institute for National Policy Research, the US-based Pacific Forum-CSIS, the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies in the Philippines and Asia Center in France.
Lin said the ROC’s geopolitical role in the region was significant, located as it is in a pivotal position between the East China Sea and the South China Sea, as the world’s political and economic center of gravity shifts toward the Asia-Pacific region.
Lin said that the East China Sea peace initiative that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) proposed a year ago has been well received internationally. The initiative called for the parties concerned to put aside differences, pursue stability by conducting peaceful negotiations and then commit to sharing and developing resources.
“We hope that the initiative will help East Asia rid itself of turmoil and confrontation and add to Taiwan’s role as a peacemaker and responsible stakeholder in the region,” Lin said.
Citing the fisheries agreement Taiwan signed with Japan in April, Lin said that the initiative has provided “a critical solution for the seemingly intractable sovereignty disputes” arising from the rapid and dynamic development of the region.
Under the agreement, the rights and interests of Taiwanese fisherman were safeguarded, while neither Taiwan nor Japan was required to alter its stance on territorial and maritime claims to the disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), Lin said.
“The key to the success of the East China Sea peace initiative lies in reciprocity and cooperation,” Lin said. “The ROC government is ready and willing to play the role of a dependable partner and hopefully, the same spirit and principle can be applied to South China Sea and other areas.”
Bobby Inman, a retired US admiral who has served as director of the US National Security Agency, delivered a keynote speech at the forum.
In the face of challenges ahead — the need for additional energy resources to sustain economic growth, the indisputable and continued warming of the planet, international narcotic trafficking and cybersecurity, among others — it is critical that countries involved adopt a multilateral approach to deal with the problems, Inman said.
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
RSS