NATO has for the first time singled out China as one of its strategic priorities for the next decade, warning about its growing military ambitions, confrontational rhetoric toward Taiwan and other neighbors, and increasingly close ties to Russia.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it appreciates the alliance’s global vision in facing up squarely to the systemic challenges posed by China.
While Russia’s war against Ukraine has dominated discussions at the NATO summit in Madrid, China on Wednesday earned a place among the Western alliance’s most worrying security concerns.
Photo: Reuters
“China is substantially building up its military forces, including nuclear weapons, bullying its neighbors, threatening Taiwan ... monitoring and controlling its own citizens through advanced technology, and spreading Russian lies and disinformation,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said after presenting NATO’s 10-year Strategic Concept.
“China is not our adversary, but we must be clear-eyed about the serious challenges it represents,” he said.
The strategic document directed its harshest language at Russia, but the mere mention of China was significant; the 2010 document did not discuss China. The official turn by NATO puts the world’s largest military alliance based on the US armed forces on guard against China, which has the world’s second-largest economy and a rapidly growing military, both in numbers and in top-notch technology.
“One of the things that [China is] doing is seeking to undermine the rules-based international order that we adhere to, that we believe in, that we helped build,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. “And if China’s challenging it in one way or another, we will stand up to that.”
“NATO will step up cooperation with our Indo-Pacific partners, including on cyberdefense, new technologies, maritime security, climate change and countering disinformation,” Stoltenberg said.
“These global challenges demand global solutions,” he said, adding: “We will also do more with our partners.”
China has yet to condemn Russia’s four-month war against Ukraine and has criticized sanctions brought against Moscow by NATO members.
Western leaders are concerned that Russia’s aggression in Ukraine could embolden China to be more assertive over Taiwan.
China has greatly increased its diplomatic reach via foreign investment, especially in central Asia and Africa. Now it is seeking to match that with greater military might, especially in the South China Sea, where it has built bases on disputed islands.
The US Navy has pushed back by conducting drills in those waters.
MOFA said that Taiwan, as a responsible member of the Indo-Pacific region, would continue to bolster its cooperation with democratic allies around the world to fight against the “hybrid threat” posed by authoritarian regimes.
Taiwan will safeguard the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region along with the rules-based world order, ministry deputy spokesman Tsuei Ching-lin (崔靜麟) said.
The ministry also thanked British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Liz Truss for voicing support for Taiwan’s safety.
The ministry was referring to remarks by Truss, who yesterday said that the West must learn from its mistakes in failing to deter Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and apply those lessons to Taiwan to “protect peace and stability in the Taiwan strait.”
She avoided questions about whether she was suggesting that Britain should arm Taiwan, saying only: “We also need to make sure that together, the free world are ensuring that Taiwan has the defense capability it needs.”
Additional reporting by Lu Yi-hsuan and Reuters
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RULES BROKEN: The MAC warned Chinese not to say anything that would be harmful to the autonomous status of Taiwan or undermine its sovereignty A Chinese couple accused of disrupting a pro-democracy event in Taipei organized by Hong Kong residents has been deported, the National Immigration Agency said in a statement yesterday afternoon. A Chinese man, surnamed Yao (姚), and his wife were escorted by immigration officials to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where they boarded a flight to China before noon yesterday, the agency said. The agency said that it had annulled the couple’s entry permits, citing alleged contraventions of the Regulations Governing the Approval of Entry of People of the Mainland Area into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入台灣地區許可辦法). The couple applied to visit a family member in
RSS