Taiwan will not rely on others for its defense, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on Wednesday, while welcoming a US commitment to the nation’s security during what she called Chinese encroachment on its sovereignty.
Tsai’s remarks, pre-recorded and delivered to a US audience at a Washington forum, came after US President Joe Biden last month pledged to defend Taiwan in the event of any “unprecedented attack” by China.
In her address to the Washington-based Global Taiwan Institute think tank, Tsai thanked the Biden administration and the US Congress for upholding the US commitment to Taiwan’s security and for recent US military arms sales.
Photo: CNA
“But we will not depend on others to come to our own defense,” Tsai said.
“That is why I want to reiterate that Taiwan is fully committed to protecting our security and maintaining our democratic way of life. We’re also working to adapt our defense strategy to the changing threats we face,” she said.
Although the White House has said Biden’s pledge did not signify a change in US policy, critics said he might have undercut — intentionally or not — a US stance of not taking a position on Taiwan’s independence.
China mounted large-scale military drills after an August visit to Taipei by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Chinese military activities have continued since then, although at a much reduced level. Chinese military aircraft have continued routinely crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which had for years acted as an unofficial barrier.
Taiwan on Wednesday said that eight Chinese fighters flew across the median line.
Tsai said those operations “encroach on Taiwan’s sovereignty and threaten peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.”
“We know from history and current events that threats against any one country or region translate directly and indirectly to increasing threats against its neighbors,” she said.
American Institute in Taiwan Chairman James Moriarty said “strategic ambiguity” over whether Washington would come to Taiwan’s defense had never been stated as policy in any documents.
“It’s never been a policy. It’s been a description of what we do,” Moriarty told the forum.
Referring to the US’ decades-old Taiwan Relations Act, which forms the basis of the US’ unofficial ties with Taiwan, he said: “The original documents make it clear that we would have to do something if there is an attempt to change Taiwan’s status by force.”
Moriarty added that he did not think Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had set a deadline of 2027 to take Taiwan, only that China’s military should have the capability to do so by then.
“We have no idea what impact a slowing economy has on his thinking. We have no idea what impact the Russian failures in Ukraine have on his thinking... So is there a firm deadline? I don’t think so,” he said.
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