Representative to France Francois Wu (吳志中) emphasized the importance of global support for Taiwan on Thursday, six days before the arrival of a French Senate delegation to Taipei.
“It is very important, I think, for Taiwan and for the democratic world to show that the red line is not fixed by China,” he told the English-language France 24 television network after being asked about US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei on Aug. 2 and 3.
“China decides to try to fix a red line to isolate Taiwan, even to prepare using military force to attack Taiwan,” Wu said. “These visits are necessary to show that we cannot accept an authoritarian system to fix that red line.”
Photo courtesy of the Kaohsiung Agriculture Bureau
“Support from another democratic country,” other than the US, “especially from France, is very important,” Wu said.
Following Pelosi’s visit, Taiwan received three more delegations of lawmakers from the US and one from Japan, and the French delegation would be the first from a leading European country to follow, he said.
The second visit of French lawmakers this year — the first was a delegation of eight senators in June — is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday and is to include French Senate Committee of European Affairs Vice President Cyril Pellevat and Senate Committee of Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces Vice President Olivier Cadic.
Taipei expects a visit from German lawmakers next month and one from the UK in November, Wu said.
The number of visits reflects the international community’s concern for the stability of the region despite China’s attempt at a diplomatic embargo on the nation, he added.
“This kind of visit from the parliaments of the free world is very important for the morale of Taiwan to resist the pressure from China, as well as for the stability of the region and for the interest of the world,” Wu said.
Regarding the Taiwanese military shooting down a drone of unknown origin in Kinmen County on Thursday, Wu said the nation has tolerated flyovers of uncrewed aerial vehicles from China before to avoid heightening tensions.
However, “China cannot do anymore this kind of aggressive action,” he said. “This is important for the morale of the Taiwanese people.
Wu complimented the UN for publishing a human rights report on the treatment of Uighurs which said that China committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.
“At least now the UN can talk about something that happened inside China that we should be very concerned” about, he said.
“We hope in the future that the UN would also begin talking about Taiwan, because we have a very serious conflict happening,” Wu said.
It concerns “not only the values we share together but also the interest of the world,” he added.
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