Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott yesterday called on other democracies to stand with Taiwan in its bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Taiwan is a model for the wider world, as it has transformed from a poor nation with autocratic leadership into a vibrant, pluralist democracy, Abbott said during a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office in Taipei.
Abbott praised Taiwan’s success at controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, despite its absence from global bodies such as the WHO, due to Chinese obstruction.
Photo: Reuters
“It is in large measure to try to help to end this isolation from which Taiwan has been suffering for so many decades that I am here in this country, and I do hope that this will be the first of many visits,” he said.
“You have demonstrated to all the countries of the Indo-Pacific region that it is possible to be both rich and free, to have both liberty and democracy,” said the former Australian leader, who arrived in Taiwan earlier this week to attend a regional forum.
Unfortunately, not everyone is pleased with Taiwan’s progress, and it is challenged on an almost daily basis by its large neighbor, he said.
“It’s more important than ever, under such circumstances, your fellow democracies stand shoulder to shoulder with you,” said Abbott, who served as Australia’s prime minister from 2013 to 2015.
Countries like Australia can best help by building a deeper relationship with Taiwan across the board, particularly in the area of trade, Abbott said.
“I can’t think of a stronger signal of democracies standing shoulder to shoulder with Taiwan than Taiwan’s accession to the CPTPP,” Abbott said.
He expressed the hope that the members of the regional trade bloc would welcome Taiwan’s CPTPP application, which was formally submitted on Sept. 22.
Thanking Abbott for his vocal support of Taiwan’s CPTPP bid, Tsai said Taiwan is pursuing deeper cooperation with other democracies.
“Taiwan is willing to contribute to upholding regional peace and stability,” Tsai said. “We seek to deepen collaboration with other freedom-loving democracies in such areas as vaccines, emerging technologies, climate change and supply chains.”
On Sept. 30, Abbott said during an Australian parliamentary committee hearing that he was “strongly in favor” of Taiwan’s inclusion in the CPTPP, a trade bloc that comprises Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Abbott is in Taiwan to deliver a keynote address at the annual Yushan Forum, which is to be held today.
Now in its fifth year, the Taiwan-initiated regional forum seeks to strengthen the nation’s relationship with ASEAN, India, Australia and New Zealand.
Last year, former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull spoke at the forum.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that Abbott is in Taiwan as a private citizen.
“I didn’t have any conversation with him before that. Tony has served as my envoy to India. We went to India. We spoke, but Tony is there as a private citizen. So what he’s said and what messages he passed, he passed on in that capacity,” he said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a