The leaders of Japan and EU institutions yesterday referred to the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait in a joint statement following a virtual summit, a move indicating their concern over China’s assertive push in regional affairs.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga held a videoconference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel, before issuing a statement saying that the leaders remained “seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas,” where Beijing has been projecting its naval might.
“We underscore the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and encourage the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues,” the statement said.
Photo: Bloomberg
The reference to Taiwan was the first in a statement from the leaders, the daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday, citing several unidentified Japanese government sources.
It follows similar wording in a joint statement issued after Suga met US President Joe Biden last month, which sparked criticism from Beijing.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it welcomed the Japan-EU joint statement, despite the lack of formal ties.
The Japanese government has repeatedly said that Japan and Taiwan share similar values in freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and that Taiwan is an important partner and friend of Japan, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement.
The government would continue to work with Japan, the EU and other like-minded partners to defend democracy and a rules-based international order and to maintain the peace, stability and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and in the Indo-Pacific region, she said.
Tensions between Taiwan and China have worsened in the past few months, as Chinese military forces ratcheted up exercises in the area, raising the risk of a conflict that could draw in the US.
The meeting came as several European countries seek more involvement in the security of the Asia-Pacific region, a key to global economic growth.
French troops took part in an exercise with Japan and the US on Japanese soil for the first time earlier this month, while Germany is expected to deploy a frigate to Asia later in the year.
The UK is also sending its new aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, on a tour including stops in Japan and South Korea, as part of its maiden voyage.
Although the Chinese Communist Party has never ruled Taiwan, it views control of the nation as essential to completing its goal of reversing China’s “century of humiliation” by colonial powers.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has shown an increased willingness to assert sovereignty claims from the South China Sea to the Himalayan Plateau and Hong Kong.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-nan
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
WHAT WAS ALL THAT FOR? Jaw Shaw-kong said that Cheng Li-wen had pushed for more drastic cuts and attacked him, just for the outcome to be nearly identical to his bill The legislature yesterday passed a supplementary budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of US military equipment, with the combined amount of spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.8 billion). The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their legislative majority to pass the bill, which runs until 2033 and has two main funding provisions. One was for NT$300 billion of arms sales already approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, the other was for NT$480 billion for another arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The bill, which fell short of the NT$1.25
‘CLEAR MESSAGE’: The bill would set up an interagency ‘tiger team’ to review sanctions tools and other economic options to help deter any Chinese aggression toward Taiwan US Representative Young Kim has introduced a bill to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, calling for an interagency “tiger team” to preplan coordinated sanctions and economic measures in response to possible Chinese military or political action against Taiwan. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習近平] has directed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China has a plan. America should have one too,” Kim said in a news release on Thursday last week. She introduced the “Deter PRC [People’s Republic of China] aggression against Taiwan act” to “ensure the US has a coordinated sanctions strategy ready should
RSS