Taiwan has the ability and is willing to further contribute to the world, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said after returning from the Kingdom of Eswatini yesterday.
The delegation led by Tsai to celebrate Eswatini’s 55th anniversary of independence witnessed that the friendship between Taiwan and the African ally “is based on mutually beneficial cooperation and mutual support,” Tsai said.
“We once again demonstrated to the world that even though Taiwan is facing a difficult international situation, we still choose to make friends with other countries in a down-to-earth manner and conduct diplomacy with sincerity and firmness,” she said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
By overcoming challenges again and again, Taiwan has become more resilient and braver thanks to the support from its friends, Tsai said.
“Taiwan has the ability and willingness to make more contributions to the world,” she said.
Taiwan would play a more active role in tackling issues of global concern, and work with international partners to promote regional and global prosperity and development, she said.
Before concluding the four-day trip, Tsai presided over a banquet held for Taiwan’s medical and technical missions in Eswatini on Thursday.
Tsai thanked the missions for bringing positive changes to local people, such as assisting in the cultivation of sweet potatoes, rice, dragon fruit and guavas from Taiwan.
Thanks to the vocational training programs, young people in Eswatini have acquired new skills, obtained employment opportunities and even started their own businesses to improve their livelihoods, she said.
The technical missions also help local women living in rural areas to become self-reliant by starting their own businesses after training, she said.
“Diplomatic achievements are accumulative. Every project conducted in Eswatini has laid a solid foundation for the friendship between the two countries,” she said.
When addressing reporters earlier on Thursday, Tsai mentioned that she hoped the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could begin the preparations for handing the Africa Project to the next president to continue enhancing Taiwan’s cooperation with African countries.
Asked whether she was worried that China would continue to poach Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, Tsai said that Taiwan’s relations with its allies “are stable.”
King Mswati III of Eswatini told her that officials from many African countries had asked him about Taiwan, which indicated that increasingly more people in Africa have become interested in Taiwan, she said.
Taiwan would be happy to interact and communicate with other countries to promote their understanding of the country, she said, adding that Taiwan would look for suitable cooperation opportunities to develop substantive relationships with them.
Taiwan’s international visibility and the international community’s support for the nation have both increased significantly over the past few years, she said.
Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is the consensus of countries around the world, which recognize Taiwan as a “stable, reliable and trustworthy partner,” she said.
The country’s crucial role in the global supply chain and strategic importance have brought its security to international attention, she said.
“Safeguarding Taiwan’s democracy is safeguarding the universal value of democracy around the world,” she said.
Regarding the APEC’s Leaders’ Meeting, which is to be held in San Francisco in November, Tsai said that it would be “very challenging” for her to participate, so she would assign a representative to attend as usual.
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