Delegations from Canada and Germany yesterday visited government officials in Taipei, weeks after warships from both nations sailed through the Taiwan Strait.
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Remus Chen (陳立國) headed a luncheon to welcome the Canadian delegation, including Richard Fadden, former national security adviser to the prime minister; Martin Green, former Privy Council Office assistant secretary to the Cabinet; and Guy Thibault, former vice chief of the defense staff.
Both sides traded opinions on Taiwan’s national defense reforms, countermeasures against foreign information manipulation, bolstering mutual relations and increasing Taiwan’s participation in international bodies.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Canada and Taiwan are both medium-sized nations and have interests in the Indo-Pacfic region, Fadden said, adding that Canada was looking forward to working with Taiwan in mutually beneficial areas and further deepening bilateral relations.
Chen extended Taiwan’s welcome to Canada’s first delegation on the issue of national defense and said that Taiwan was glad to see Canadian ships transiting the Taiwan Strait on July 31.
The move marked the fourth time that Canada has sailed warships through the Taiwan Strait since the announcement of Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy in 2022, Chen said.
That highlights Canada’s resolve to uphold the liberty, openness and inclusivity of the Indo-Pacific region, he said.
Taiwan is also looking forward to working with Canada in areas such as countering disinformation, trade, medicine and technology, he added.
Meanwhile, Michael Muller, a member of the German parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), visited Taiwan with fellow SPD and Bundestag member Andreas Larem, meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and lunching with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中).
Muller and Larem emphasized the importance for democracies worldwide to band together against the expansion of authoritarianism, adding that democratic nations should step up collaborations on economy, technology and cultural affairs.
Both expressed the hope that Taiwan-Germany relations would continue to deepen.
Wu said he had discussed issues of democratic collaboration, Germany’s strategies on China and the Indo-Pacific region, Germany’s navy ships passing through the Taiwan Strait and the EU’s de-risking policies with Muller and Larem over lunch.
China’s expansion is not solely a cross-strait issue, but a challenge to the world order, Wu said, adding that Taiwan sincerely hopes to work with like-minded partners in Europe to foster peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
Lin said that democratic nations should band together to foster economic and cultural resilience.
He added that Taiwan is willing to share with its EU partners its experience in handling Chinese hybrid and information warfare, as well as measures dealing with China’s weaponization of its economy.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
RSS