Tensions over Taiwan risk leading to a miscalculation between the US and China, as both countries step up activity around the nation, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said on Wednesday night.
“We should be concerned,” Lee said in an interview. “I don’t think it’s going to war overnight, but it is in a situation where you can have a mishap or a miscalculation and be in a very delicate situation.”
Washington has significantly boosted engagement with Taipei, China has increasingly tested Taiwan’s air defenses and the government in Taipei has taken steps such as printing passports with the name “Taiwan” on them, Lee said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum.
Photo: Bloomberg
“All these moves raise suspicions and tensions and anxieties, and make it more likely that a mishap or miscalculation can happen,” he said, adding: “Everybody says the right thing, but if you look at what is happening it is not a static situation.”
Lee’s comments came shortly after US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) concluded their first face-to-face summit, agreeing to continue talking on a range of topics even as they continue to spar over issues such as Taiwan.
After reassuring Xi on Monday that the US does not take a position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, a day later Biden described the nation as “independent” to reporters before quickly walking back the comment.
In a separate interview yesterday, Singaporean Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan said that “the probability of an actual conflict is low” between China and Taiwan, adding that it is an issue everyone needs to be concerned with.
He said he hoped tensions could be lowered so there is sustained peace between them.
“The real risk is either an accident or a miscalculation,” Balakrishnan said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “And the more there’s engagement, there’s talk, there’s discussion and there’s hopefully a meeting of minds. I think that lowers the risk considerably.”
Lee said it was good that Biden and Xi could meet and “speak frankly” with each other even though all problems would not be resolved in one meeting.
He said that in the US there is a consensus that Beijing is “a serious problem for them,” while many Chinese believe the US wants to slow them down and “stop their emergence.”
Lee also said that the US should keep moving forward on trade with Asia, even if it is politically unfeasible to re-enter the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the 11-nation trade deal that former US president Donald Trump exited.
The US would still have a role in the region even if China joined the agreement given its allies and investments, Lee added.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS