The US and Japan on Friday said that maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is essential to security in the Indo-Pacific region.
The joint statement was released by the White House after a meeting in Washington between US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to discuss their countries’ alliance and security issues, including possible conflicts in the Taiwan Strait.
“We emphasize that our basic positions on Taiwan remain unchanged, and reiterate the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element of security and prosperity in the international community,” the statement said.
Photo: Reuters
“We encourage the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues,” it added.
Biden and Kishida said that their alliance remains the cornerstone of welfare in the Indo-Pacific region.
However, they also recognize that the challenges their countries face transcend geography, particularly as a result of the war in Ukraine.
“United across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, we have stood together in firm opposition to Russia’s unjust and brutal war of aggression against Ukraine, and we will continue to impose sanctions on Russia, and provide unwavering support for Ukraine,” the statement said.
The leaders also exchanged their views about the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a US-led multilateral partnership involving 13 other countries, including Japan, that has been touted as a bulwark against China’s growing economic influence in the region, it said.
“As inclusive democracies, we will ensure economic prosperity is broadly shared across our societies and recommit to achieving gender equity and equality as well as women’s empowerment,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Biden and Kishida also urged Beijing to do its part to report epidemiological and viral genomic sequence data regarding the spread of COVID-19 across China to enable global public health officials to identify possible new variants and to reduce their spread.
In Taipei, Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy spokesperson Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) yesterday said: “Maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait has clearly become the consensus of the international community, in the face of China’s expansionism, which challenges the global democratic order, and has aroused the concerns of liberal and democratic countries worldwide.”
Taiwan is bolstering its self-defense capabilities and resisting threats to its sovereignty, Hsiao said.
“We will also deepen cooperation with the US, Japan and other like-minded countries to safeguard the security of the Taiwan Strait, jointly promote development in the Indo-Pacific region, and ensure peace, stability and economic prosperity,” he said.
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
RSS