Former Danish prime minister and ex-NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen is to arrive in Taiwan next week for a three-day visit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Rasmussen, who is also the founder of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, is to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Vice President William Lai (賴清德) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) during his stay in Taipei, ministry spokeswoman Joanna Ou (歐江安) said.
Rasmussen is to exchange views on a wide range of important issues with legislators and think tank members in Taiwan, such as how the rising military threat from China has disrupted peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and the Asia-Pacific region, she said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Rasmussen has been urging the international community to pay attention to the security of the Taiwan Strait. He has been calling on democracies worldwide to bolster exchanges and cooperation with Taiwan, enhance democratic resilience and unity, and jointly respond to challenges brought by the expansion of authoritarian regimes,” Ou said.
“The trip would demonstrate his firm support for Taiwan through specific actions,” she said.
Rasmussen launched the foundation in 2017 to boost the unity of the international democratic community, she said.
The foundation has since 2018 held the annual Copenhagen Democracy Summit, which has been attended by heads of democratic countries and dignitaries, Ou said, adding that Wu gave a speech at the summit in 2019.
Tsai has addressed the summit over the past three years, which helped draw the international community’s attention and support to Taiwan, she said.
Rasmussen in an interview with Fox News in October said that while the West should take Russian President Vladmir Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine seriously, it should not give in to nuclear blackmail.
The Chinese Communist Party “would take concessions to Putin as an invitation to attack Taiwan,” as it would no longer fear a strong Western response, Rasmussen said.
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