The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday hinted that Taiwan might join forces with the Philippines to protect navigational freedoms, days after Beijing blocked Philippine supply ships in the South China Sea.
The ministry made the comment when asked whether Taipei would be willing to join forces with the Philippines to protect the latter from increasingly aggressive activities by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy and China Coast Guard.
Taiwan “is willing to cooperate with any other nation with shared values in areas of common concern, including maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacfic region,” it wrote in a statement.
Photo: AFP
A Chinese reconnaissance aircraft intruded into Japanese airspace on Monday, a day before China’s military and coast guard vessels blocked Philippine supply ships from carrying out replenishment operations at Sabina Shoal (Xianbin, 仙濱暗沙), which Taiwan also claims.
MOFA said China’s frequent use of illegal, coercive and unpeaceful measures against other nations’ ships and its incursion into Japanese airspace had increased regional tensions.
Beijing has been mounting an increasing number of incursions into Taiwanese and Japanese air defense identification and exclusive economic zones in an escalation of regional tensions, it said, adding that China and Russia have conducted provocative naval drills.
Beijing has deployed more than 100 ships to disrupt Philippine replenishment missions and used the rights of protection as “pretext for ... illegal, threatening, coercive and other nonpeaceful means to interfere with the navigation of other countries’ vessels,” MOFA said.
Taiwan calls on all parties to resolve disputes peacefully by following international law, it said.
Beijing “poses a significant threat to the security of Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region,” it said.
“China’s behavior — which MOFA strongly condemns — has compromised regional peace and stability,” it said, adding that Taiwan “urges like-minded nations to jointly counter China’s authoritarian expansion.”
The global community has increasingly recognized that freedom of navigation and overflight is crucial to peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region, it said, citing statements from the G7 earlier this year.
“Taiwan calls on all involved parties to exercise restraint and follow the UN Convention on the Laws of the Sea,” MOFA said.
“As a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan will continue to cooperate with the US, Japan and other like-minded nations to defend a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” it added.
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