The Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) military exercises around Taiwan last week intensified risks in the region and threatened global security, top diplomats of G7 countries said on Sunday.
In a joint statement posted on the US Department of State’s Web site, the foreign ministers of Canada, the EU, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US expressed “deep concern about China’s provocative actions, particularly the recent large-scale military drills around Taiwan.”
“These increasingly frequent and destabilizing activities are raising cross-strait tensions and put at risk global security and prosperity,” it said.
Photo: Reuters
The statement said G7 countries and the international community as a whole “have an interest in the preservation of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
G7 members “oppose any unilateral actions to threaten such peace and stability, including by force or coercion” and continue to encourage “the peaceful resolution of issues through constructive cross-strait dialogue,” it said.
The PLA’s Eastern Theater Command held its latest exercises in waters around Taiwan on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.
The two-day exercises were meant as “a stern warning” to “Taiwanese independence” separatist forces, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement.
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
RSS