Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday thanked Swedish Member of the European Parliament Charlie Weimers for his support of Taiwan.
“China has declared there is a ‘no-limits partnership’ between Beijing and Moscow. Perhaps it is time the EU states a similar strategic cooperation with Taiwan: no end limits, no forbidden areas and no upper bound,” Weimers wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
The “Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China on the International Relations Entering a New Era and the Global Sustainable Development” issued in February says: “Friendship between the two states has no limits, there are no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation.”
Photo: Screen grab from Twitter
EU-China relations over the past few decades can only be described as “gullible,” Weimers said at a debate on the outcome of last week’s EU-China Summit at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
“China fooled the world on trade, the origins of COVID-19 and now they are trying to fool us on their support for Russia,” he said.
For every euro that China puts toward supporting Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the EU should put double toward bolstering Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities, Weimer said.
Weimer also called on the EU to mirror China’s “no-limits partnership” with Moscow and begin developing a “no-limits partnership” with Taiwan.
“Thank you, @weimers. While #China is still cuddling up to #Russia, #Taiwan is working with the #EU to promote peace, #DefendDemocracy & #StandWithUkraine. The war atrocities teach an important lesson: Forces for good must unite to deter & defeat authoritarianism,” Wu wrote on Twitter.
At the European Parliament debate, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Joseph Borrell dismissed the EU-China Summit as a “dialogue of the deaf.”
“China wanted to set aside our differences on Ukraine, they didn’t want to talk about Ukraine. They didn’t want to talk about human rights and other stuff and instead focus on positive things,” Borrell said.
“This was not exactly a dialogue, maybe a dialogue of the deaf... We could not talk about Ukraine a lot, and we did not agree on anything else,” Borrell added.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a