Taiwan is “an issue of international security and not an issue of domestic politics,” new French Office in Taipei Director Franck Paris said on Friday.
Paris, who assumed his post in August, made the comment during a news briefing at his residence, also saying that maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in France’s interest.
Taiwan’s security is an international issue that has been brought up repeatedly in meetings held by groups such the G7 and European Council, Paris said.
Photo: CNA
G7 foreign ministers have in recent joint statements reiterated their “commitment to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” which they consider “indispensable to security and prosperity in the international community.”
EU leaders also expressed concerns over growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait, as well as opposition to any unilateral moves to change the “status quo,” in their conclusions issued after the European Council meeting in July.
The importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is a narrative that should be promoted not just in Asia, but also in other parts of the world, such as Africa, Latin America and Europe, Paris said, adding that France has strong connections and good relationships with many countries, so it could play a role in contributing to that effort.
The French government would continue to honor the freedom of navigation principle by sending French military vessels through the Taiwan Strait, Paris said.
“This is an important commitment,” not only by the French president, but also endorsed by the French parliament, he said.
Without peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, all the collaborations that France and Taiwan have fostered and are planning to develop would be disrupted, Paris said.
While relations with China are “crucial” for France, such engagements would not undermine the French government’s efforts to continue to improve ties with Taiwan, he said.
“Taiwan is a partner for its own merits,” said Paris, who served as an adviser on Africa to French President Emmanuel Macron for about six years before coming to Taipei to head the French office, which represents the Elysee’s interests in the absence of diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
RSS