Leaders of the G7 nations on Friday reiterated the importance of stability and peace in the Taiwan Strait, while expressing support for Taiwan’s participation in international organizations.
“We reaffirm that maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is indispensable to international security and prosperity. We support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations, including in the World Health Assembly and WHO technical meetings, as a member where statehood is not a prerequisite and as an observer or guest where it is,” the leaders said in an end-of-summit statement in Italy.
“There is no change in the basic positions of the G7 members on Taiwan, including stated one China policies,” the statement said, while calling for “a peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues.”
Photo: AP
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday thanked the G7 leaders in a message on X.
“Heartfelt thanks to the leaders of the #G7 for reaffirming the importance of peace & stability in the Taiwan Strait and for supporting #Taiwan’s int’l participation,” Lai wrote.
“As a responsible global stakeholder, Taiwan will continue to safeguard the status quo & our hard-won democracy,” he added.
The Presidential Office also thanked the G7 leaders for their support for peace in the Strait and Taiwan’s participation in international bodies, office spokeswoman Kuo Ya-hui (郭雅慧) said.
Taiwan is a responsible member of the international community and in the Asia-Pacific region, and would continue to work with like-minded nations to uphold democracy, freedom, the rule of law and human rights, despite Chinese military threats and efforts to strangle Taiwan economically and politically, Kuo said.
In a separate statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said that Taiwan would continue to work with G7 members and other like-minded countries to uphold the rules-based international order and maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and worldwide.
In the end-of-summit statement, the leaders of the G7 nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US — said they were seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China seas, adding that they have “strong opposition to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force or coercion.”
“We continue opposing China’s dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia in the South China Sea and its repeated obstruction of countries’ high-seas freedom of navigation,” it said.
They also said they remain concerned about the human rights situation in China, including the use of forced labor in Tibet and Xinjiang.
“We are also worried by China’s crackdown on Hong Kong’s autonomy, independent institutions, and civil society and continued erosion of rights and freedom, including through the recent enactment of legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law that has broad and vaguely defined provisions regarding ‘sedition,’ ‘state secrets’ and interactions with foreign entities,” it said. “We express concerns about the use of such laws to silence dissent in Hong Kong and overseas, including politically motivated prosecutions.”
Regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the G7 leaders called on China “to press Russia to stop its military aggression and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine,” as well as “to cease the transfer of dual-use materials, including weapons components and equipment, that are inputs for Russia’s defense sector.”
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