The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday rejected a report that said voices are mounting within the party arguing that “diplomatic allies are useless” to Taiwan.
According to a report published yesterday by the Chinese-language United Daily News, since China and the Gambia resumed diplomatic ties on Thursday, there have been concerns whether Taiwan would suffer “an avalanche of ruptured diplomatic ties” after the DPP administration assumes office in May.
Pro-DPP academics recently began to say that losing several diplomatic allies in the future would be “within a tolerable limit,” the report said.
It also said some of the academics have even argued that as long as Taiwan retains the support of the US and Japan, the nation’s survival would not be threatened, even if its number of diplomatic allies dropped to zero.
DPP spokesperson Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) rejected the report as untrue, saying that no one has made such statements, either at meetings of the DPP’s think tank, meetings on international affairs or other advisory meetings.
He said that maintaining good relations with Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, fully developing the nation’s foreign ties and enhancing its global status have always been the top goals of the DPP’s foreign policy.
The DPP has pledged on many occasions that after it returns to power, it would do its utmost to consolidate Taiwan’s relations with diplomatic allies and to promote peace, stability and prosperity.
Wang added that Taiwan is willing to contribute positively to the international community and hopes to obtain support and recognition through such efforts.
There have been concerns that, unless president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) complies with Beijing’s demand to acknowledge “one China,” Beijing would restart its efforts to woo Taiwan’s diplomatic allies after a hiatus of eight years under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
SELF-RELIANCE: Taiwan would struggle to receive aid in the event of an invasion, so it must prepare to ‘hold its own’ for the first 70 days of a war, a defense expert said Taiwan should strengthen infrastructure, stock up on reserves and step up efforts to encourage Taiwanese to fight against an enemy, legislators and experts said on Tuesday last week. The comments sought to summarize what the nation should learn from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has exceeded 300 days, since Feb. 24 last year. Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said that the war in Ukraine highlighted the importance of being ready for war. Taiwan’s development of an “asymmetrical warfare” doctrine and extending mandatory conscription to one year is a good start to preparation of defense against a
The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday said it would delay the lifting of the indoor mask mandate, citing public health considerations and ongoing discussions on how the policy should be implemented. Earlier this week, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said officials from several ministries were working on the policy and an announcement would be made yesterday. However, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, yesterday said that the policy was still under review. Wang said its implementation would be “delayed slightly” due to three main factors. First, the center
END OF SERIES: As the first generation of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are set to expire, the CECC would no longer offer them to children younger than four years old The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the nation’s first case of a person infected with the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2. The Taiwanese man in his 20s arrived from Canada on Jan. 22, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who is deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division. He tested positive after reporting having a runny nose and muscle soreness while in airport quarantine, Lo said. The XBB.1.5 subvariant is the dominant strain in the US, but there is no evidence to suggest that it causes more severe illness than other Omicron subvariants, he said,
NORMALIZING TIES: The delegation led by the KMT’s Johnny Chiang is to meet with British lawmakers, think tanks and business groups to discuss developments A legislative delegation led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) arrived in the UK yesterday to rally support for Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Chiang heads the Legislative Yuan’s Taiwan-UK Interparliamentary Amity Association. The delegation also includes KMT legislators Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), Wen Yu-hsia (溫玉霞), Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), Sandy Yu (游毓蘭) and Wu I-ding (吳怡玎). The group is to meet with British lawmakers Alicia Kearns, who chairs the British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee; Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the House Defence Select Committee; and Bob Stewart, who cochairs the