Taiwan is a key member in the Indo-Pacific region and has long shared the benefits of regional stability with Australia, the UK and the US, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday after the three states created an enhanced trilateral security partnership called “AUKUS.”
“Through AUKUS, our governments will strengthen the ability of each to support our security and defense interests,” including information and technology sharing, leaders of the member states said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The endeavor we launch today will help sustain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” they said.
The ministry yesterday reiterated its shared values with like-minded partners.
Taiwan is in a pivotal position in the first island chain, and has long shared the benefits of regional peace and stability with Australia, the UK, the US and other like-minded states, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement.
Based on the foundations of the US’ Taiwan Relations Act and the “six assurances,” the nation would continue to deepen its partnership with the US to defend a rules-based international order, as well as peace, stability and prosperity in the Taiwan Strait and in the Indo-Pacific region, Ou said.
The emergence of AUKUS shows that China’s “wolf warrior” diplomacy is not accepted by the international community, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said separately.
Since China’s opening up in the 1970s, foreign businesses settling in China have had to endure unfair treatment by the Chinese government because of its protectionism, DPP caucus secretary-general Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) said.
Countries have to bear China’s dumping practices even as it boosts its military expansionism through economic growth, Tsai said.
China has been poaching resources with its “wolf warrior” diplomacy and military expansionism, which has alarmed many countries, DPP caucus director-general Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said.
Taiwan is part of a global alliance of democratic countries and plays a vital role in promoting cooperation in trade and security, and protecting human rights, Liu said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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