The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday expressed gratitude for two resolutions passed by the European Parliament on Wednesday that back deepening ties with Taiwan and voice concern about heightened tension across the Taiwan Strait.
The parliament on Wednesday adopted an annual report on the implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), and an annual report on the implementation of the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP).
The CFSP report said that Taiwan is an important democratic ally of the EU in the Indo-Pacific region, urging the EU and its member states to continue to work closely with Taiwan in deepening economic, trade and investment ties.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The parliament also criticized provocative military actions taken by China against Taiwan.
China has attempted to distort UN Resolution 2758 to impede Taiwan’s international participation, the CFSP report said, adding that China’s claim to Taiwan has no grounds in international law.
Only the democratically elected government in Taiwan can represent Taiwanese, the CFSP report said, urging the EU and its member states to convey a clear message stating that any forceful attempt to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait would not be accepted.
The CSDP report condemned China’s increasing online attacks, cognitive warfare, intrusions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone and damage to Taiwan’s undersea cables.
The EU affirms its steadfast commitment to maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, the CSDP report said, praising Taiwan’s self-restraint while calling on China to stop its aggressive behavior.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) thanked the European Parliament for its support.
Taiwan would continue to deepen cooperation and exchanges with the parliament to boost democratic resilience and construct a mutually beneficial alliance network based on common values, Lin said.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
‘CLEAR MESSAGE’: The bill would set up an interagency ‘tiger team’ to review sanctions tools and other economic options to help deter any Chinese aggression toward Taiwan US Representative Young Kim has introduced a bill to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, calling for an interagency “tiger team” to preplan coordinated sanctions and economic measures in response to possible Chinese military or political action against Taiwan. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習近平] has directed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China has a plan. America should have one too,” Kim said in a news release on Thursday last week. She introduced the “Deter PRC [People’s Republic of China] aggression against Taiwan act” to “ensure the US has a coordinated sanctions strategy ready should
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
RSS