The US’ inclusion of Taiwan in its Indo-Pacific Strategy is geared toward weakening Beijing’s influence in Southeast Asia, as well as providing a Blue Dot Network to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a senior Executive Yuan member said yesterday.
Taiwan and the US would be seeking further collaboration on infrastructure construction and energy, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The US and Taiwan signed a memorandum of understanding on the Framework to Strengthen Infrastructure, Finance and Market Cooperation on Sept. 17, which would see the Ministry of Finance and the US Department of the Treasury establishing respective task forces to facilitate collaborative projects for government and private infrastructure via investments.
The Blue Dot Network aims to promote quality infrastructure investment that is open and inclusive, transparent, economically viable, and financially, environmentally and socially sustainable, while complying with international standards, laws and regulations.
At the inaugural Taiwan-US Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue that concluded on Friday last week, Taiwan and the US reached several agreements, including prioritizing the development of semiconductors, making the Indo-Pacific region a focal point, and acknowledging that the New Southbound Policy and the US’ Indo-Pacific Strategy share the same goal.
Taiwan and the US are partners that would undertake financial collaboration in the development of infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region, the source said.
Taiwan expressed its support for the principles underpinning the Blue Dot Network, the source added.
As Taiwan has established benign relations with all the regions in which the network is to operate — South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Latin America — the US is seeking to collaborate further with Taiwan on renewable energy and local infrastructure construction, the source said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
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