Maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is the consensus of democracies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, after a meeting of US and EU officials on the Indo-Pacific region.
The ministry’s remarks followed a joint statement on Friday by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino that expressed concern about China’s provocations in the Strait.
The US, the EU and other like-minded countries have over the past few months made many public statements about upholding peace and stability in the Strait, showing that cross-strait peace is a consensus among democracies, the ministry said.
Photo: AFP
The statement was issued following the conclusion of the fourth high-level US-EU Dialogue on China on Thursday and a third meeting of the US-EU high-level consultations on the Indo-Pacific region on Friday.
The two sides “expressed concern about China’s provocations that increase the risk of crisis in the Strait, which would not only undermine peace and stability across the Strait, but also have serious impacts on the broader region and jeopardize global prosperity,” the joint statement said.
“They reiterated their commitment to maintaining the status quo and opposition to any unilateral actions which undermine it,” it added.
Photo: Reuters
Tensions across the Strait have escalated, in particular since a visit to Taipei by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi in early August, which was followed by China increasing its military exercises around Taiwan.
Since then, sorties by Chinese military planes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone have become more frequent, and, unlike in the past, the aircraft sometimes cross the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
MOFA yesterday said it welcomed and thanked the US and the EU for their support, and for drawing attention to China’s provocative actions in the Strait.
The US’ and the EU’s constant vigilance on developments in the Strait and the Indo-Pacific region while authoritarian regimes are publicly challenging the international order is proof that democratic countries are resolved to work together to uphold a rules-based order, the ministry said.
As a member of the “democratic alliance” responsible for the Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan would continue to work with like-minded countries to uphold peace and stability in the Strait and the Indo-Pacific region, it added.
In the US-EU statement, the two sides reiterated their concerns about human rights in China, particularly in Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Hong Kong.
They also discussed efforts to press Beijing to urge Moscow to end the war in Ukraine, it said.
At a separate meeting on Friday about their respective engagements in the Indo-Pacific region, US and EU officials expressed their intention to further pursue coordination and complementary work for regional maritime security, it said.
The two sides are planning to hold joint US-EU naval exercises in the first half of next year, while “pursuing joint capacity in the maritime domain to support freedom of navigation and other internationally lawful uses of the sea in the Indo-Pacific,” it added.
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