Taiwan is deepening economic integration with other democracies and working with partners, including the US, to deter Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) from ordering an invasion of the nation, Taipei’s envoy to Washington said.
“China — will they act or not? We don’t know,” Representative to the US Alexander Yui said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “We want to make sure that every day, when Xi Jinping wakes up and looks at the mirror before he shaves, he goes, ‘Not today.’”
Yui said China is preparing for the possibility of aggression against Taiwan, but that Taiwan’s government is also getting ready with the help of “many friends, including the US.”
Photo: screen grab from Bloomberg Television’s YouTube channel
China launched military drills after the May 20 inauguration of President William Lai (賴清德), with Xinhua news agency saying they were designed to send a “stern warning against the interference and provocation by external forces” — a reference to the US.
The diplomat said he is still hopeful about the prospects for legislation that he characterized as “bogged down” in the US Senate to prevent double taxation of Taiwanese firms in the US.
Such a law could usher in more investment from smaller companies that work with large firms such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, he added.
Yui, who assumed his post in December, also said he is in touch with US officials about the lag in defense orders caused in part by supply chain disruptions — which some Republicans have blamed on US President Joe Biden’s ongoing support for Ukraine.
“Many of them we already made the necessary payments and are still awaiting delivery,” Yui said regarding US weapons systems.
“That’s an issue we’re constantly talking [about], coordinating with the US administration,” he said.
Asked whether Beijing was overreacting to the new administration in Taipei, Yui said China was “just trying to find excuses to act up against Taiwan.”
These include responding aggressively to political developments in Taipei and visits by US officials, such as then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit in 2022, Yui said.
It is not Taiwan or Washington that are fueling regional tensions, he said.
“It’s Beijing who is sending the ships, it’s Beijing who is sending fighters around Taiwan — it’s them who are creating all the tensions in the Taiwan Strait,” Yui said. “They have to treat us with respect, as equals.”
Yui said he hopes Taiwan and the US can reach a second trade agreement on issues such as agriculture, labor and the environment under an initiative that already saw them clinch a deal to reduce some regulatory red tape.
“Negotiating in an election year, the nearer we come to November, the more difficult it will become,” he said. “We would like to have this as soon as possible.”
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