Afghanistan’s return to Taliban rule following the withdrawal of US forces shows that Taiwan needs to be “stronger and more united” in ensuring its own defense, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
The sudden departure of US troops from Kabul has sparked discussion in Taiwan as to whether Washington can be relied upon to come to Taipei’s defense.
“Recent changes in the situation in Afghanistan have led to much discussion in Taiwan,” Tsai wrote on Facebook. “I want to tell everyone that Taiwan’s only option is to make ourselves stronger, more united and more resolute in our determination to protect ourselves.”
Photo: Reuters
She said that Taiwan should practice self-reliance.
“It’s not an option for us to do nothing ... and just to rely on other people’s protection,” she wrote.
She added that Taipei cannot rely on “momentary goodwill or charity from those who will not renounce the use of force against Taiwan,” an apparent reference to Beijing.
Beijing’s state media have reveled in the US pullout from Afghanistan, publishing a series of editorials predicting that Washington would not come to Taiwan’s aid in its hour of need.
Analysts have said that Afghanistan and Taiwan are not comparable.
Taiwan “is a core interest for the US in that it is a well-functioning
democracy, loyal ally, [with] a capable military and directly standing up to America’s most important competitor,” said Robert Kelly, an international relations expert at Pusan National University in Busan, South Korea.
“Afghanistan was on the fringe of US interests. A better analogue ... is Israel,” Kelly wrote on Twitter.
Separately, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked Washington for reiterating its commitment to Taiwan and other allies.
The administration of US President Joe Biden has repeatedly expressed its “rock solid” commitment to Taiwan and supported the sentiment with practical action, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said.
Taiwan would resolutely continue to improve its self-defense capabilities to safeguard the lives and property of Taiwanese, as well as their free and democratic way of life, Ou said.
Cooperation between Taiwan, the US and other nations would ensure stability in the Taiwan Strait, she said, adding that Taiwan would continue contributing to lasting peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
The ministry made the comments after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Tuesday reaffirmed Washington’s “sacrosanct” commitments to its allies, including Taiwan, pushing back at concerns about its resolve after its departure from Afghanistan.
“We believe that our commitments to our allies and partners are sacrosanct and always have been,” Sullivan told a news conference in Washington.
“We believe our commitment to Taiwan and to Israel remains as strong as it’s ever been,” he added.
When asked how Washington is countering questions about its resolve from Beijing and Moscow, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said: “We, of course, are in touch with the Chinese and the Russians.”
“Our message is very clear: We stand by partners around the world who are subject to this kind of propaganda that Russia and China are projecting, and we’re going to continue to deliver on those words with actions,” Psaki said.
Max Baucus, a former US ambassador to Beijing, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) might be emboldened to test the US over Taiwan.
“The development in Afghanistan is going to cause Xi Jinping to probe a little bit,” Baucus said. “He’s going to test to see the degree to which we are going to stand up for Taiwan.”
Xi will “look for openings,” he said. “He’ll probe here, probe there. That’s their history.”
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
RSS