The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed all actions by members of the international community that help maintain peace across the Taiwan Strait.
The ministry issued the remarks in a statement in response to an agreement reached during a discussion on Sunday between US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Japanese Minister of Defense Minoru Kihara and South Korean Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik.
The ministers stressed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Photo: EPA-EFE/South Korea Ministry of Defense
“The secretary and the two ministers emphasized the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as indispensable to security and prosperity in the international community. They shared concerns on activities that are inconsistent with international law, in particular the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and condemned recent dangerous activities against the vessels, ships, and aircraft operating in and over the East and South China seas,” the US Department of Defense said in a statement.
MOFA said that Taiwan, a member of the international democracy alliance, would continue to enhance cooperation with the US, Japan, South Korea and other like-minded countries to safeguard democracy, freedom and peace.
In Austin’s meeting with his South Korean counterpart in Seoul, with Kihara joining the meeting online, the ministers discussed strengthening their cooperation in the face of “severe security environments,” Kihara said.
The ministers also condemned growing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia as a contravention of UN resolutions, the South Korean Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
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
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
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
RSS