The US and Australia on Tuesday expressed strong opposition to China’s “destabilizing” actions in the Indo-Pacific region, and support for upholding peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
In a statement after the annual Australia-US Ministerial Consultations in Washington, the two countries described Taiwan as a leading democracy in the region, an important regional economy and a key contributor to critical supply chains.
They reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and opposed any unilateral changes to the “status quo,” the statement said.
Photo: AFP
They also committed to working together to support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations and enhancing economic, social and people-to-people ties with Taiwan, while also continuing to coordinate efforts on development in the Pacific with Taiwan, it said.
The annual event is known as the 2+2 talks because they involve the defense and foreign ministers of each country.
They were attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong (黃英賢) and Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles.
Aside from voicing support for Taiwan, they expressed strong opposition to China’s destabilizing actions in the South China Sea, such as the militarization of disputed features, and dangerous encounters at sea and in the air.
They also expressed concern about other actions by Beijing, including the assertion of excessive maritime claims that are inconsistent with international law, and pledged to work with others to support regional maritime security and uphold international law, the statement said.
They also said they would welcome Japanese troops into three-way rotations, vowing a united front in the face of China’s rapid military advances.
“It’s really important that we are doing this from the point of view of providing balance within our region and involving other countries within our region, and we look forward to being able to have more engagement with Japan,” Marles told a news conference.
“We can go to Japan at the end of this week with an invitation for Japan to be participating in more exercises with Australia and the United States,” Marles added.
Austin said that the allies would seek Japanese participation in joint operations in Australia, where the US has been rotating marines since 2011 through Darwin.
Austin said that the US and Australia agreed to increase rotations of bomber task forces, fighter jets, and the US Army and Navy.
“We agreed to enhance trilateral defense cooperation and to invite Japan to integrate into our force posture initiatives in Australia,” Austin said.
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RSS