President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday in her New Year’s Day speech praised Taiwan’s successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic and made the case for the nation’s growing importance on the international stage.
In her speech, delivered from the Presidential Office, Tsai said that for many around the world, last year was a year of disrupted routines, economic hardship and steadily rising deaths caused by COVID-19.
Taiwan, by contrast, was fortunate to have responded early and was thus able to “defeat” the virus through a shared commitment to professionalism, mutual trust and social cohesion, she said.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan has faced many challenges over the past year, but it also has good reasons to be optimistic, including the strong performance of local businesses, stable employment numbers and government investment in emerging technologies, Tsai said.
“Over the past year, Taiwan has achieved what the whole world is longing for — a normal lifestyle. That is quite an accomplishment,” she said, adding that ensuring people can lead a normal life and working toward a global economic recovery would be her top priorities this year.
“From a global standpoint, Taiwan is more important than ever,” she said, adding that stabilizing relations across the Taiwan Strait is no longer an issue solely for Taiwan and China, but “a concern for the whole Indo-Pacific region” and “a focus of international attention.”
Photo: CNA
Tsai said that China had “undermined” its relations with Taiwan through its constant military activity around the nation, but she reaffirmed that her administration would not “act rashly” in response.
“We are willing to facilitate meaningful dialogue under the principles of parity and dignity, as long as the Beijing authorities sincerely want to resolve differences and improve cross-strait relations,” she said.
When the pandemic is over, Taiwan looks forward to the gradual return of people-to-people exchanges across the Strait to improve mutual understanding, Tsai added.
For the first time in a New Year’s Day addresses, Tsai spoke in English, directing a portion of her remarks to an international audience.
She said that Taiwan was proud to have worked alongside the international community to confront the challenges posed by COVID-19 and to have shown the world that “Taiwan can help.”
“As a force for good in the world, we will continue to be an indispensable member of the international community, both now and into the future,” she said.
Tsai also expressed gratitude for the international backing Taiwan has received amid the regional and global challenges it faces.
“Our democracy is stronger because of your support,” she said.
Tsai said that she was honored to have overcome, together with Taiwanese, the many challenges of last year and called for the nation to “continue to pull together” in the new year.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS