The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday applauded a pledge by the G7 to raise US$600 billion in public and private funds to finance infrastructure in developing nations to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The government would not shy away from working with like-minded countries, Deputy Director-General of European Affairs Lu Shih-fan (呂世凡) said.
US President Joe Biden announced the pledge at the G7 summit in Germany on Sunday.
Biden said that the US and other G7 members would only provide “limited funding,” but encouraged private entities to make large-scale investments.
A German think tank has suggested that the G7 expand its membership to include other democracies, such as South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, and rebrand itself as the G10+1, with Taiwan as the “plus one.”
The ministry said it respected the think tank’s suggestion.
The G7 has in the past few years been leaning toward inviting like-minded countries to attend its meetings, Lu said, citing as examples invitations extended last year to Australia, India, South Africa and South Korea.
The G7 has this year extended invitations to Argentina, India, Senegal and South Africa to attend its summit to demonstrate its inclusivity and willingness to work with like-minded countries to face global challenges, defend liberties and the democratic way of government.
Lu said the government applauded such measures and looked forward to following suit.
Commenting on the NATO summit to be held in Madrid today and tomorrow, Lu said a new strategic concept document is expected to be passed at the meeting.
Lu also said that non-NATO countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, have been invited to the summit for the first time.
The ministry also thanked the G7 for a communique it released that “underscores the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and encourages a peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues.”
This is the second consecutive year that the G7 has issued a statement of support for Taiwan, which is appreciated by the Taiwanese government and people, it said.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
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