President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) last night vowed that Taiwan would fight for regional stability and peace with like-minded partners in a speech at an event in Taoyuan ahead of Double Ten National Day celebrations today.
“The world has seen Taiwan’s tenacity and determination to safeguard democracy and freedom,” Tsai told the gathering at Taoyuan Sunlight Arena.
Quoting the theme of this year’s celebrations — “Guard Our Country Together” — she said that Taiwanese over the past year have worked to overcome many challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo provided by the Taoyuan Gity Government
With Taiwan reopening its borders to international travelers on Thursday, she invited people around the world to visit Taiwan, a nation that can facilitate international exchanges, she said.
Double Ten National Day celebrations are to start today at 9am at the Presidential Office Building in Taipei, the planning committee said.
Tsai’s national day address today is to be based on the theme “Bring the World a Better Taiwan — a Tough Island, a Nation with Tenacity,” sources said last night.
Photo: CNA
It is to focus on the economy, security and democracy, and how Taiwan would affect the development of the world in the post-pandemic era, sources said.
Tsai is to make “creating a country with tenacity” the main goal for the rest of her term, including building stronger industries, a more thorough social security net, a better democratic and free system as well as greater national security capabilities, they said.
About 160 foreign guests are expected to attend the celebrations, including 80 members of foreign delegations and 80 representatives to Taiwan from the nation’s diplomatic allies and countries friendly to Taiwan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy spokesperson Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said yesterday.
The ministry thanked the delegations for visiting Taiwan during the COVID-19 pandemic and thanked representatives for their congratulatory messages.
Among them is a Canadian cross-party delegation led by lawmaker Judy Sgro, who arrived yesterday.
It is the first Canadian parliamentary delegation to visit Taiwan since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic more than two years ago, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, adding that the visitors bring good wishes from the Canadian parliament, as their arrival comes just as Taiwan is set to celebrate Double Ten National Day.
In addition to the events in northern Taiwan, about 26,000 fireworks are to be set off over 30 minutes in Chiayi County, the committee said.
A dancing water display featuring a light sculpture projection, along with a sound and light show, would be staged at the National Palace Museum Southern Branch, it added.
In Washington, the Taiwanese American Association of Greater Baltimore and Columbia on Saturday held a Double Ten National Day celebration at the Culture Center of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office.
Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴); Hudson Institute senior fellow Miles Yu (余茂春), who was previously a China policy adviser to former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo; and Maryland State Senator Clarence Lam (林力圖) were invited to give speeches at the event.
“Security is the toughest challenge that Taiwan is facing,” Hsiao said, adding that she would strive to ensure the nation is capable of safeguarding peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
She added that she would also help build tenacity in the economy, because “for Taiwan to be strong, its economy has to be strong.”
Additional reporting by Chen Yun
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
UNWAVERING: Paraguay remains steadfast in its support of Taiwan, but is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to switch recognition to Beijing, Pena said Paraguayan President Santiago Pena has pledged to continue enhancing cooperation with Taiwan, as he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait using force, Japanese media reported on Saturday. Kishida yesterday completed a trip to France, Brazil and Paraguay, his first visit to South America since taking office in 2021. After the Japanese leader and Pena spoke for more than an hour on Friday, exchanging views on the situation in East Asia in the face of China’s increasing military pressure on Taiwan, they affirmed that “unilateral attempts to change the