Democratic nations must band together to counter consolidating authoritarian powers and build “non-red” supply chains, President William Lai (賴清德) said at the opening of the two-day Halifax International Security Forum (HFX) yesterday.
Taiwan occupies a critical position in the first island chain, safeguarding national sovereignty, maintaining a democratic way of life, and defending peace and security in the Taiwan Strait while facing authoritarian threats directly, Lai said at the event, which is being held in Taipei for the first time.
Taiwan will uphold “peace through strength,” he added.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
As a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan will not provoke conflicts and will maintain the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, while being willing to engage in dialogue with China under the principles of equality and dignity, he said.
The government has proposed increasing defense spending to more than 3 percent of GDP and established the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee last year, which is to pursue global peace by deepening relations with democratic allies and improving their defense resilience, he said.
Technological strength, being the backbone of national defense, is key to deterring the expansion of authoritarianism, while it is also crucial to improve economic resilience by boosting industrial development, he said.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
As a country with a leading position in the semiconductor industry, Taiwan is willing to work with democratic allies to build a “non-red supply chain” to pursue mutual economic benefits and maintain global peace, he said.
HFX president Peter van Praagh said that the forum being held in Taipei demonstrated the support of the international community for Taiwan.
“Taiwan is a vital democracy whose continued freedom and security is important not only to the people of Taiwan, but to the security of the entire world,” Van Praagh told a news conference before the event.
It is the first time that the forum is being held outside North America since it was launched in 2009 and it is not a coincidence that it is held in Taiwan, which is a vibrant democratic country facing potential aggression from its neighbor using “gray zone” tactics, Van Praagh said.
The aim of the forum is to explore how international society should cope with the situation and most importantly what Taiwan can do, he said.
“Through HFX Taipei, I wanted to bring democracies to Taipei to see and understand why Taiwan deserves the international community’s friendship and support,” Van Praagh added.
He thanked United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) founder Robert Tsao (曹興誠), who also gave a speech, for his support.
Asked how US President Donald Trump’s stance toward the Ukraine war could affect Taiwan, Tsao said that Taiwan could unite and demonstrate its determination to safeguard democracy, despite not being able to predict what Trump would do.
The US will not help a country where 60 percent of its people support unification, so Taiwan should “help itself before expecting help from others,” Tsao said.
The international society views Taiwan as a whole, despite its internal differences, he said, adding that no political struggle should sacrifice Taiwan’s sovereignty and international status.
In his speech, Tsao thanked the forum for excluding China’s participation and not bowing to its pressure by including Taiwan.
The event features on-and-off-the-record speeches by former government officials and academics from more than 70 countries, including former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Akie Abe, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s widow, on issues concerning democracy, security, resilience and partnership, the organizers said.
HFX is a Washington-based organization that has run the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada, every year since 2009.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘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
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia
RSS