A Chinese invasion of Taiwan is unlikely for the time being due to the internal challenges and international pressure that China is facing, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the New York Times in an interview shown on Wednesday.
“My thought is that perhaps this is not a time for them [China] to consider a major invasion of Taiwan,” Tsai said in a prerecorded interview for the DealBook Summit held by the newspaper on Wednesday.
Beijing’s leadership is presently “overwhelmed by its internal challenges” on economic, financial and political grounds, while the international community “has made it loud and clear that war is not an option, and peace and stability serves everybody’s interests,” she said.
Photo:AFP
Taiwan’s like-minded partners are “making tremendous progress” in jointly managing risks across the Taiwan Strait and have reiterated the importance of cross-strait peace and stability on international occasions, she said.
Regarding a potential time line of a Chinese invasion, Tsai said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had “given his answer for that” during his meeting with US President Joe Biden earlier this month.
Tsai was referring to Xi’s denial of reports about a possible invasion of Taiwan by 2027 or 2035, saying “there was no such plan, no one mentioned it.”
Remaining “clear-eyed” about the threats posed by China, such as military intimidation, gray-zone tactics, cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns, Taiwanese continue to “make our utmost efforts to strengthen our defense capabilities and societal resilience,” she said.
“One is responsible for protecting one’s own homeland,” she said.
Collaboration between Taiwan and the US “has reached historic heights in recent years” across many fields, particularly on security, she said.
Largely thanks to US efforts, international society is paying closer attention to Taiwan and has recognized the indispensability of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, she said.
The US has also reaffirmed that its partnership with Taiwan would not be affected by events elsewhere, such as Russia’s war in Ukraine, she said.
The nation is “deeply grateful, as always, for the long-standing and steadfast support” of the US and remains confident in its commitment to maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific, she added.
Tsai underlined the importance of meetings with former US House of Representatives speakers Kevin McCarthy and Nancy Pelosi, as they demonstrated the close ties between Taiwan and the US.
When asked whether the Biden administration prioritizing moving some chip production to the US would influence Taiwan-US ties, Tsai said that it is a “good move” in the sense that Taiwan could help its allies build supply chain resilience and have access to resources in the US, especially human resources and talent.
Tsai expressed confidence that “the capacity that we [Taiwan] have now, and the importance of our industry, cannot be replaced anywhere else,” adding that the nation has “more than semiconductors to be valuable.”
As businesses around the globe are looking for alternatives or additional bases in the region due to wariness of the risks in China, Tsai encouraged them to foster closer ties with Taiwan.
“Taiwan can be of tremendous value” in building resilient and secure supply chains as “a highly reliable, effective and secure partner,” she said.
On China’s attempts to interfere in Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections next month, Tsai said that “they’re probably not particularly successful” at influencing people in the democratic nation.
Countering such measures and preventing discord require greater unity and trust among different social groups and faith in the strength of democracy, she said.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS