The government yesterday welcomed international attention on Taiwan’s security, saying that China is to blame for threatening regional stability, after a report by The Economist called Taiwan “the most dangerous place on Earth.”
The report is featured on the cover of the magazine’s latest issue, which depicts the nation as the epicenter of a US-China rivalry.
The cover shows Taiwan in a radar display with dots crossing the Taiwan Strait accompanied by a Chinese flag and dots nearing the east coast with a US flag.
The US maintains a “one China” policy, while maintaining relations with Taiwan, but such “strategic ambiguity is breaking down,” as Washington fears it might no longer be able to deter China from attempting to seize Taiwan by force, the magazine said.
A cross-strait war would be a catastrophe, as Taiwan “lies at the heart of the semiconductor industry,” it said, adding that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), “the world’s most valuable chipmaker, etches 84 percent of the most advanced chips. Were production at TSMC to stop, so would the global electronics industry, at incalculable cost.”
The report said that “American and China must work harder to avoid war over the future of Taiwan,” as “nowhere presents such a test of statesmanship as the most dangerous place on Earth.”
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement yesterday that many dignitaries, think tanks and media in the US, Australia, Europe and Japan have expressed concerns over the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait under China’s political and military coercion.
The government is glad to see Taiwan’s existence, values and security recognized by the global community, Ou said.
The “danger” highlighted by the report originates from China, which not only targets the Taiwan Strait, but also directs intimidation and expansionism across the East China Sea, the South China Sea and South Asia, posing serious threats to regional security, she added.
Democratic Progressive Party spokeswoman Hsieh Pei-fen (謝佩芬) said the report demonstrates the threats posed by China that Taiwan deals with every day.
Many people used to consider it an issue between Taiwan and China, but now the international community has become aware of China’s threats to the world and regional stability, she said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) urged leaders in Taipei, Beijing and Washington to stay rational and resolve conflicts through dialogue.
The Taiwan Strait should not become a battlefield for superpowers, which The Economist’s report echoes, Chiang said.
Taiwan would be wounded if a military and political face-off between the US and China grows, he added.
Additional reporting by CNA and Chien Hui-ju
INVASION: Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said: ‘A Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency, and therefore an emergency for the Japan-US alliance’ Japan and the US could not stand by if China attacked Taiwan, and Beijing needs to understand this, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday. Speaking virtually to a forum organized by Taiwanese think tank the Institute for National Policy Research, Abe said that the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — the Sakishima Islands and Yonaguni Island are only about 100km from Taiwan. An invasion of Taiwan would be a grave danger to Japan, he said. “A Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency, and therefore an emergency for the Japan-US alliance. People in Beijing, [Chinese] President
TIGHTENED RULES: Employees in the affected sectors must be fully vaccinated by Jan. 1 or provide an exemption certificate, and they must undergo COVID-19 testing People working in sectors supervised by the education, economics, labor, and health and welfare ministries must be fully vaccinated by next month, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. “Starting from Jan. 1, vaccination rules for workers at industries supervised by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Labor, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare will be further enhanced,” said Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman. New employees and those returning to work must provide a negative COVID-19 test result — an antigen rapid test, at-home rapid
NO ENTRY: The refusal to process Lithuanian goods at Chinese ports suggests that they have been ordered to do so by an official entity, a trade group head said The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on the governments of other EU member states to jointly respond to Beijing blocking Lithuanian exports from entering China, as “Lithuania is not listed on the [Chinese customs] system as a country.” Lithuanian media Web site 15min.lt yesterday cited a Lithuanian wood exporter as saying that it was not allowed to unload its goods at an unnamed Chinese port. The company said that its Chinese partner cited customs authorities as saying that any merchandise or shipments related to Lithuania would be refused, effective immediately. Lithuanian timber exporter Sprusas confirmed that Lithuanian goods could be loaded
‘RESOLUTELY COMMITTED’: Sparking a crisis in the Taiwan Strait would be in no one’s interest, starting with China, the US secretary of state told a conference US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Reuters Next conference on Friday that Chinese leaders should think carefully about their actions toward Taiwan, warning of “terrible consequences” if China precipitates a crisis across the Taiwan Strait. In an interview, Blinken addressed multiple foreign policy challenges facing the administration of US President Joe Biden, including faltering efforts to repair the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine and the spiraling conflict in Ethiopia. Most acute might be China’s increasingly aggressive posture toward Taiwan. Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) has said tensions with China are at their worst in
RSS