The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday thanked US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for emphasizing the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and condemning China’s actions that threaten the region’s peaceful “status quo” during his meeting with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) on Friday.
Blinken met with Wang on the sidelines of the 79th UN General Assembly in New York City, where he stressed “the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” the US Department of State said in a news release.
Blinken also raised concerns about the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) “dangerous and destabilizing actions in the South China Sea” and “PRC support for Russia’s defense industrial base and war of aggression against Ukraine,” it said.
Photo: AP
The ministry said it welcomes and appreciates US senior officials reaffirming their firm position and support for maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait during interactions with Chinese officials.
It also condemned China for continuing to threaten the peaceful “status quo,” when it said the international community is concerned with and committed to maintaining regional safety and stability.
“The ministry has noted that China in its news release about the meeting one more time included many falsehoods about Taiwan and Taiwan-US relations,” it said.
“The Republic of Taiwan (ROC) and the PRC are not subordinate to each other,” the ministry said. “China’s continued coercion toward Taiwan and its arbitrary military expansion in the region is the biggest source of disruption to regional peace and stability.”
Moreover, China’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine and its joint military exercises with Moscow in the Indo-Pacific region reflects the fact that China’s ambition has become a major threat to the world.
“A stronger Taiwan is better able to promote democracy, peace and prosperity around the world,” the ministry said, citing President William Lai’s (賴清德) prerecorded video address to this year’s Concordia annual summit on Tuesday.
“[We] hope Taiwan and other democratic nations would jointly support the democratic umbrella and counter authoritarian aggression,” the ministry cited Lai as saying.
Taiwan, as a responsible member of the international society, would continue to strengthen its self-defense capability and work with the US and like-minded countries in defending the rules-based international order to ensure the peace, stability and prosperity in the Taiwan Strait and Indo-Pacific region, it added.
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