US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait in a joint statement issued after they met in Washington for their first official meeting.
Trump and Ishiba “affirmed their determination to pursue a new golden age for US-Japan relations that upholds a free and open Indo-Pacific and brings peace and prosperity to a violent and disorderly world,” the US-Japan Joint Leaders’ Statement said.
“The two leaders emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element of security and prosperity for the international community,” it said. “They encouraged the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues, and opposed any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion.”
Photo: AFP
Trump and Ishiba also expressed support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations, it added.
At the meeting, Trump and Ishiba “expressed their determination to continuously cooperate to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific” region, it said.
They “intend to advance multilayered and aligned cooperation among like-minded countries,” including through the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue grouping of the US, Japan, Australia and India, as well as cooperation among Japan, the US and South Korea; Japan, the US and Australia; and Japan, the US and the Philippines, the statement said.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office via CNA
Trump and Ishiba reiterated their strong opposition to any attempts by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to change the “status quo” in the East China Sea by force or coercion.
“The two leaders reaffirmed their strong opposition to the PRC’s unlawful maritime claims, militarization of reclaimed features, and threatening and provocative activities in the South China Sea,” it added.
In Taipei, President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday wrote on X that Taiwan deeply appreciates Trump’s and Ishiba’s “strong support for peace across the Taiwan Strait & Taiwan’s international participation.”
“We will remain steadfast in cooperating with the #US, #Japan & other global partners to advance regional peace & prosperity,” he wrote.
Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said that the international community agrees that maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region is important, and that Taiwan is a responsible member of the international community that is capable and willing to cooperate.
Taiwan would continue to strengthen its self-defense capabilities, deepen partnerships with the US and Japan, and cooperate with like-minded countries to protect the rules-based international order, ensure that the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region are free and open, and maintain global peace and prosperity, she said.
Additional reporting by CNA
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS