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.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
“A Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency, and therefore an emergency for the Japan-US alliance. People in Beijing, [Chinese] President Xi Jinping (習近平) in particular, should never have a misunderstanding in recognizing this,” Abe said.
Abe called on the democratic world to prevent a Chinese invasion by standing together and jointly urging Xi and the Chinese Communist Party “not to choose the wrong path.”
“A stronger Taiwan, a thriving Taiwan, and a Taiwan that guarantees freedom and human rights are also in Japan’s interests. Of course, this is also in the interest of the whole world,” Abe said.
Photo: AP
A military action targeting Taiwan would also lead to “economic suicide” for China, despite it being one of the world’s top economies, and significantly affect the global economy given China’s close economic and trade ties with the rest of the world, he added.
That is why maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait is in the interest of all parties involved, he said.
Abe reiterated his support for Taiwan’s bid to join the Tokyo-led international trade bloc, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
During his tenure as prime minister, Abe said he tried to expand Japan’s strategic economic, security and diplomatic standing in the world order, and saw the need to “firmly connect ourselves to a free and open democratic framework.”
“Based on the same idea, I support Taiwan’s participation in the TPP,” he said, using the CPTPP’s former name, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, to refer to the trade bloc.
“The role of the TPP in maintaining and strengthening the rules-based international order is important. Taiwan is more than qualified to participate,” he said.
On Tuesday in London, British Secret Intelligence Service Chief Richard Moore told an event organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies: “The Chinese Communist Party leadership increasingly favors bold and decisive action on national security grounds. The days of [former Chinese leader] Deng Xiaoping’s (鄧小平) ‘hide your strength, bide your time’ are over.”
“Beijing believes its own propaganda about Western frailties and underestimates Washington’s resolve. The risk of Chinese miscalculation through overconfidence is real,” Moore said, without mentioning Taiwan explicitly.
The MI6 head warned about the spread of Chinese surveillance technology, which he said was used in “targeting the Uighur population in Xinjiang,” and said the UK needed to recognize that “technologies of control are being increasingly exported to other governments.”
Moore said that “adapting to a world affected by the rise of China is the single-biggest priority for MI6.”
Additional reporting by the Guardian
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
RSS