US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Thursday reiterated the importance of cross-strait peace and stability during their first-ever trilateral summit at the White House in Washington.
“We affirm the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element of global security and prosperity, recognize that there is no change in our basic positions on Taiwan, and call for a peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues,” the leaders said in a joint statement.
Taiwan welcomes the statement of concern and steadfast support for peace and stability across the Strait from the heads of state of the US, Japan and the Philippines, Presidential Office spokesperson Olivia Lin (林聿禪) said in Taipei.
Photo: Reuters
The joint statement showed that an international consensus has formed on protecting peace amid expanding authoritarianism that threatens global security and order, she said.
Taiwan will continue to build up its self-defense capabilities and cooperate with like-minded countries to safeguard the rules-based international order and contribute to global peace, stability and prosperity, Lin said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs added that Taiwan is a responsible international actor willing to collaborate with the three nations on maintaining peace, stability and prosperity across the Indo-Pacific region.
The trilateral summit cemented the US-Japan-Philippines joint security mechanism, which forms part of a larger defense network against China, Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the Taipei- based Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told a forum in Taipei.
He cited discussions between Biden and Kishida on what is being called the greatest upgrade to the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the US and Japan since 1960, which would see the two countries engage in more coordinated command between US forces stationed in Japan and the Japan Self-Defense Forces.
This security network can operate in tandem with existing US-UK-Australia and US-Japan-South Korea security mechanisms to form a comprehensive regional security network against China, Su said.
Liao Hsiao-chuan (廖小娟), an associate professor of political science at National Taiwan University, said the trilateral summit marked Japan’s ascent from a regional ally to a global partner of the US’ global security strategy.
The summit also hinted at a potential growth of the US-led security framework in the region, as a strengthened Japan might provide a much-needed counterweight to China and North Korea should the US become isolationist by electing Donald Trump as president, she said.
The alliance between the US, Japan and the Philippines would be strong because of their shared interests in democratic values and the freedom of navigation in the region, said Hsiao Hsiu-an (蕭琇安), an associate research fellow at National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations.
However, Institute for National Policy Research senior adviser Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said that the US’ efforts to shore up the Indo-Pacific is more remedial than suggestive of a military alliance.
Taiwan can find cause for caution in Washington’s flawed security strategy, inability to counter China’s “gray zone” tactics and Trump, he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
RSS