The Indonesian government has drawn up a contingency plan to evacuate Indonesians in Taiwan amid rising concern over tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
The emergency plan would involve evacuating 350,000 Indonesian nationals from Taiwan as “geopolitical conditions surrounding Taiwan have not abated,” Indonesian newspaper Kompas reported on Friday.
“To anticipate various possibilities, a contingency plan has been prepared in collaboration with the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office in Taipei,” Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director for Indonesian Citizen Protection Judha Nugraha was quoted as saying.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The plan was revealed after China last week conducted three days of military drills around Taiwan following President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) meeting with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.
An evacuation would be complicated, as a possible siege by China would cut off flights and shipping, the only transportation options in and out of Taiwan, the paper said.
The evacuation of citizens should be organized by the governments of each country, Yuyun Wahyuningrum, the Indonesian representative on the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, was cited as saying.
ASEAN is preparing two declarations for the protection of migrant workers: one concerns the protection of migrant workers in times of crisis and the other of migrant workers on fishing vessels, he said.
Taiwan’s stability is vital to Indonesia not only because of safety concerns for its citizens, but also because of economic reasons, with Taiwan accounting for about 7 percent of Indonesia’s GDP in 2021, Kompas said.
If a conflict breaks out across the Taiwan Strait, it would affect global supply chains and its impact on shipping routes would shake Indonesia’s economy, it added.
After cross-strait tensions mounted following then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August last year, Japan was also in talks with Taiwan regarding how to evacuate Japanese nationals from Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.
The Philippines has also confirmed that it has a plan for evacuating its 150,000 citizens from Taiwan in case of an emergency.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that Chinese intimidation of Taiwan has seriously endangered the security, peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait, and aroused grave concern from neighboring countries, such as Indonesia and the Philippines.
The ministry said it would maintain close contact with representative offices in Taiwan to exchange views on the regional situation and provide necessary assistance to protect their citizens in Taiwan.
Referring to remarks by Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian (黃溪連) on Friday that security cooperation between the US and the Philippines is an intervention in the cross-strait situation that would endanger Filipino workers in Taiwan, the ministry said Huang is using Taiwan to stoke fear and cover up the fact that China is undermining regional peace and stability.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole